The song of the invisible night bird: An AVM survivors memoir

• Main Author: Rivera, Janina Marie O.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Fine Arts
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5083
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Song of the Invisible Night Bird: an AVM Survivor’s Memoir is a memoir that explores sickness in the life of a young girl who comes of age and who struggles to make sense of her condition. Telling the story is a mature woman looks back at the time when she dealt with an Arterio-Venous Malformation (AVM), or a burst vein from a congenital condition in her brain. In the story, the woman recounts how she coped with her AVM and a debilitating type of fear. She relives her medical tests, recalling the intensity of her questions and the pain that accompanied her ordeal. She also narrates the struggle of integrating back into the routine of normal life and of accepting herself—now with a slew of headaches, failure, and panic. In the telling of her story, themes like childlike wonder, beauty, community, healing, and faith are discussed. This work uses the strength of metaphor and refers to the Bible as a vehicle to connect the personal story of this writer to a larger mythic frame. This work also aims to use memoir as an art form of spiritual resource where faith and reason can complement each other in good storytelling. It is inspirational in writing; one with the purpose of helping readers, especially young adults, to rise again after battles with sickness in all its different, invisible, and instructive forms.