The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Podcast with Kevin Schaefer · SMA News Today

#130: Andrew Cherico, College Student With SMA

·39 min·2 clips

Andrew says he became non-ambulatory at 9, then spent years learning to embrace the wheelchair.

1. The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Podcast with Kevin Schaefer centers this episode on Andrew Cherico, a college student with SMA and a sports journalism major at the University of Central Florida. 2. Kevin Schaefer says he has SMA Type 2 and works as a columnist and forum director for SMA News Today, while Andrew says he is originally from New York and now lives in Orlando, Florida. 3. The episode asks how Andrew moved from childhood isolation and wheelchair resistance to college, advocacy, and public self-acceptance. 4. Andrew says his parents learned he had SMA when he was 2.5 years old, and he noticed major effects around ages 5 and 6 in kindergarten and first grade. 5. He describes falling during recess while playing tag, busting open a large cut on his face, and then becoming out of the loop with other kids at recess. 6. Andrew says he became non-ambulatory at age 9 and initially thought the wheelchair might be temporary. 7. He says he spent about two to three years depressed, antisocial, and unwilling to associate his wheelchair with himself. 8. Andrew identifies an eighth-grade turning point when he decided he could not stay sad about the wheelchair all day and had to embrace it. 9. He says the first major step was telling Xbox friends he had played with for three years that he was in a wheelchair. 10. Andrew says those friends reacted with surprise, asked to see a picture, and kept playing with him, which relieved him. 11. Andrew says he is the only person in his family with SMA and the youngest child, with a sibling gap that includes a brother who is 26 and a sister in her mid-30s. 12. He describes his sister as basically his second mom, saying she took him to school, the beach, and other places when he was little. 13. Andrew says Henry Viscardi School in New York gave him a K-through-12 setting for students with physical disabilities, along with prom, gyms, and independent living activities. 14. He says the school also gave him chances to meet celebrities, join the basketball team, travel on field trips, and advocate at the New York state capitol for disability funding. 15. Andrew says he spoke with representatives and senators about cuts to school funding and argued that he and his classmates deserved the same education as anyone else. 16. He says New York independence brought practical challenges like broken elevators, inaccessible train stations, and difficult doors, and he learned tricks like using his foot plates to open doors. 17. Andrew says he chose the University of Central Florida because of sports journalism, family in Florida, and Orlando's location near Disney World and Universal. 18. He says the move took longer because of COVID, virtual asynchronous classes, another gap semester, and family-related tragedies, but he finally reached campus five days before the semester began. 19. The interview feels conversational and personal, with Kevin using his own SMA experience to compare family dynamics, conference fatigue, and independence. 20. People interested in college, disability advocacy, and practical SMA life may connect with this episode, while listeners wanting a brief celebrity-only segment may skip it.

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