A Leg to Stand On

“A heart-wrenching and inspiring contribution to the literature of loss and disability, A Leg to Stand On offers the visceral detail, black humor, and grit of a fine novel combined with all the vulnerability of the deepest, most honest memoirs. Colleen Haggerty captures the tender and defiant voice of the 17-year-old she was when she lost her leg in a terrifying auto accident. But the author manages to imbue that voice with the ferocity required of her as she found a way to accept and surmount her disability. Anyone who has ever confronted limitation will be inspired by Haggerty’s story.”
—Amy Friedman, author of Desperado’s Wife: A Memoir

When Colleen Haggerty lost her leg in an accident during her senior year of high school, she could have retreated from life and let her disability become her defining quality—and no one would have blamed her for it. Instead, she went the opposite way. In the years following her accident, Haggerty explored her physical world with vigor, testing the limits of her body by joining a ski team, playing with a co-ed soccer team, and taking up kayaking and backpacking. She also tested the limits of her heart, pursuing love and passion with restless men.

In A Leg to Stand On, Haggerty recounts her life as a disabled woman, from redefining herself as a young woman after tragedy—fierce and able, but haunted by hard choices and suppressed grief—to choosing marriage and motherhood. That choice comes at great cost to the physical freedom Haggerty has fought for, but ultimately she finds redemption, fulfillment, and self-acceptance in the bargain. No one will read this book without being inspired to accept their past and create the future they always wanted.

Author: Colleen Haggerty

Publication Date: November 11, 2014

Categories: Fall 2014, Memoir

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About the Author

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“A profoundly honest, soul-searching book about growth in the shadow of adversity, faith in the shadow of fear. Those who categorize Haggerty’s memoir as ‘overcoming disability’ have missed the point. This book is about the human spirit, about how we can dig into our reserves and not only accept what life hands us, but thrive because of it.”
—Victoria Zackheim, novelist, playwright, anthologist

“In the midst of adolescence, when we are all trying to figure out who we are, Colleen Haggerty literally loses a part of herself when her leg is severed in a brutal accident. In the years following, her wounded body makes it impossible to ignore a deeper wound in her spirit. Without self-pity, she confronts her own misgivings and regrets as she moves through a difficult lesson in forgiveness, both of self and others. I was engaged and cheering for her every step of the way on this courageous journey toward wholeness.”
—Hollye Dexter, author of Fire Season

“A Leg to Stand On is a true shero’s tale, not because its author was disabled and bravely carried on, but because she did something even more brave: she opened herself to the transformational power of loss. And in the way of the shero, she has brought back the details of her journey that we may share in the wisdom, growth, and grace that was hidden along the way. Yes, we see clearly here what it is to live without a leg, but more we see what it is to walk with our own becoming. That makes this book more than touching, informative, or inspiring… It makes it alchemical.”
—Lyena Strelkoff, storyteller, performer, speaker, and coach

“At seventeen, Colleen Haggerty faces the loss of her leg to a tragic and life-altering accident. The path to peace after that moment of trauma is not linear, not easy. When, after many years of trails, she finally finds her own brand of normal, Colleen becomes the mother she’s always wanted to be . . . and becomes an instrument of healing to the other person whose life was indelibly changed that fateful day in 1978 . . . A Leg to Stand On tells of a beautiful and heartbreaking journey of loss, love, long-awaited motherhood, and self-determined healing. I am inspired and heartened.”
—Cami Ostman, author of Second Wind: One Woman’s Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents

“Colleen Haggerty tells her poignant story with clarity, bravery and a healthy respect for the depth and texture of life’s choices. A Leg to Stand On follows a young woman’s journey through crashing loss–her leg at seventeen, two abortions and two difficult pregnancies, a long crisis of faith, to arrive at the place where she can share the truth in this courageous memoir.”
—Laura Kalpakian, author

About the Author

Colleen Haggerty is an amputee, but she doesn’t identify herself by her disability. She worked for nearly twenty years in the non-profit world trying to change the world, but doesn’t define herself by that, either. She is a survivor of breast cancer, but loathes the pink ribbon. The role of her lifetime is that of being a mother. Now that she can hang her hat on. Haggerty is an inspiring public speaker and writer who has contributed to the anthologies The Spirit of a Woman, He Said What? (penned as Colleen Robinson), Dancing at the Shame Prom, and Beyond Belief. She lives with her husband and their two teenagers in Bellingham, WA.