A young doctor’s life-affirming story of near-death, recovery and radical acceptance

What do you do when the life you planned is dramatically interrupted? What does it mean to heal, when the world won’t stop asking what’s wrong with you?At the age of 22, Grace Spence Green’s spine was broken at the fourth thoracic vertebra. One day, she was in hospital supporting patients, the next she was fighting for her own life. To Exist As I Am chronicles her journey from idealistic medical student to spinal-injury patient, to doctor and disabled activist, finding her way back to the wards, and finding her tribe along the way.This life-affirming memoir reframes disability and questions the value we place on independence, in favour of interdependence; the rich networks of care that bind us together, and what love truly looks like. Rather than yearning to be ‘fixed’, Grace shows how we might fight for change while embracing a joyous life – exactly as we are.