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To Exist As I Am

A Doctor's Notes on Recovery and Radical Acceptance

The front cover of the book 'To Exist As I Am' which features a person, from the shoulders down. They're wearing a doctor's uniform and sitting in a wheelchair.

Astonishing, important, and truly radical ... this book is completely transformative.

Penny Morland

'To Exist As I Am' reflects on the boundaries between those who care, and those who receive care in an absolutely extraordinary way ... Essential reading.

Xand Van Tulleken

Inspiring and life-affirming.

Viv Groskop

It wasn't a car crash, but there was a collision. He fell from the third floor.

At the age of 22, Grace Spence Green's spine was broken at the fourth thoracic vertebra, and her life changed tracks. One day, she was in hospital supporting patients, the next she was one.

'To Exist As I Am' traces Grace's journey back to the wards and back to herself – as words like recovery, independence and community, well and unwell, took on new meanings.

She asks how we might fight for change, while joyously embracing life exactly as we are.

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Date published
Format
Hardback
Extent
224
ISBN
9781800814486
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About the author

Grace is seated in a wheelchair positioned on a patterned tiled floor inside a grand building. They wear a vibrant green shirt, denim jeans and trainers, and have short brown hair.

Grace Spence Green

Grace Spence Green is a junior doctor working to challenge the narratives surrounding disability, medicine and identity. In 2018, aged 22 and a fourth year medical student, she sustained a spinal cord injury and is now a full-time wheelchair user. Since her lifechanging injury, Grace has become a passionate advocate for the disabled community, appearing in the BMJ and Guardian, and across TV and radio.