Born with a rare genetic mutation called Usher syndrome type III Rebecca Alexander has been simultaneously losing both her sight and hearing since she was a child and she was told that she would likely be completely blind and deaf by thirty. Then at eighteen a fall from a window left her athletic body completely shattered. None of us know what we would do in the face of such devastation. What Rebecca did was rise to every challenge she faced. She was losing her vision and hearing and her body was broken but she refused to lose her drive her zest for life or—maybe most important—her sense of humor. Now at thirty-five with only a sliver of sight and significantly deteriorated hearing she is a psychotherapist with two masters’ degrees from Columbia University and an athlete who teaches spin classes and regularly competes in extreme endurance races. She greets every day as if it were a gift with boundless energy innate curiosity and a strength of spirit that have led her to places we can’t imagine. In Not Fade Away Rebecca tells her extraordinary story by turns harrowing funny and inspiring. She meditates on what she’s lost—from the sound of a whisper to seeing a sky full of stars and what she’s found in return—an exquisite sense of intimacy with those she is closest to a love of silence a profound gratitude for everything she still has and a joy in simple pleasures that most of us forget to notice. Not Fade Away is both a memoir of the senses and a unique look at the obstacles we all face—physical psychological and philosophical—exploring the extraordinary powers of memory love and perseverance. It is a gripping story an offering of hope and motivation and an exquisite reminder to live each day to its fullest.