Leg The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It

A hilarious and poignant memoir grappling with family, disability, and coming of age in two closets—as a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy Greg Marshall’s early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the nineties) and you’ll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries pondering why he’s crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage a mom clacking away at her laptop between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings being raised among the Mormons of Salt Lake. Fast forward the tape and you’ll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man when he discovers he’s been living in another closet his whole life: he has cerebral palsy. Here, in the hot mess of it all, lies Greg Marshall’s wellspring of wit and wisdom. What does it mean to transform when there are parts of yourself you can’t change? Leg meditates on this question with trenchant humor, painting a moving portrait of a family in crisis and the resilience of spirit it takes to persevere. In Marshall’s deft and funny hands, we see a story both personal and universal—of being young and wanting the world, even when the world doesn’t feel like yours to want.