Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir
    Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir
    Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir
    Audiobook14 hours

    Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir

    Written by Doron Weber

    Narrated by Jonathan Davis

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Doron Weber delivers an affecting, unforgettable account of his struggle to protect his remarkable son. Born with a congenital heart defect, Damon Weber proves a source of constant inspiration to his parents even as his father Doron searches relentlessly for a breakthrough to resolve a condition that seems destined to claim Damon's life. Living under this dire long-term prognosis, Damon nevertheless grows into a skilled actor-and an extraordinarily resilient human being.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 2, 2012
    ISBN9781464028960
    Author

    Doron Weber

    Doron Weber was born in Israel, grew up in New York, and was educated at Brown University and Oxford. He has worked as a newspaper boy, busboy, waiter, and taxi driver and is the coauthor of three published nonfiction books and various articles. For fifteen years he has worked at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a nonprofit that supports science and education.

    Related to Immortal Bird

    Related audiobooks

    Personal Memoirs For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Fields Of Dreams

      Oct 16, 2022

      Fields Of Dreams
      2 min read

    • Article

      Teddy And Roosevelt

      Jan 10, 2021

      They call it Friends Group. But there are no friends, and there is no group. Just me, a state-funded Social Worker, and another sixth grader the kids call Sweaty Teddy. We sit in a converted cinderblock office between the furnace and the chapel and l

      16 min read

    • Article

      Teddy And Roosevelt

      Jun 10, 2023

      They call it Friends Group. But there are no friends, and there is no group. Just me, a state-funded social worker, and another sixth-grader, the kids call Sweaty Teddy. We sit in a converted cinderblock office between the furnace and the chapel and

      16 min read

    • Article

      My Dinner with Denis Johnson

      Jun 25, 2018

      My Dinner with Denis Johnson
      13 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      Mar 21, 2023

      In yet another round of bashing the older generation, the government is considering moving the age at which you can access free prescriptions to the current pension age of 66. Oh brilliant idea. Stop even more vulnerable elderly people getting the

      4 min read

    • Article

      Sade Saves

      Nov 11, 2020

      Sade Saves
      10 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 3, 2024

      Books
      16 min read

    • Article

      This Family Saga Finds Grace And Beauty In Ordinary Lives, Fully Lived

      Jun 10, 2021

      Simon Van Booy's new novel Night Came With Many Stars follows several generations of a Kentucky family, their crossroads and choices, their curses and hard memories, their luck and their chances.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Bright Side O f Life

      Oct 5, 2023

      Bright Side O f Life
      6 min read

    • Article

      I Got 99 Problems

      Nov 4, 2020

      I have never been in a serious relationship and my whole family is convinced I’m secretly gay. I’d happily tell them if I were, but I’m content on my own. How can I make them understand? A. S., North Yorkshire No problem here, that I can detect. Tr

      4 min read

    • Article

      Over The Moon

      Jun 29, 2023

      Over The Moon
      6 min read

    • Article

      One Coyote

      Sep 29, 2020

      One Coyote
      9 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      Jun 28, 2022

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hope Does Push-Ups

      May 19, 2020

      SOME DAYS THERE SEEMS to be little reason for hope, in our families, cities, and world. Well, except for almost everything. The seasons change, a bone mends, Santa Rosa rebuilds after the fire. In the days after a cataclysmic school shooting, thousan

      2 min read

    • Article

      Who Is Generationz?

      Jul 27, 2021

      Wearing your hair in a side parting? Updating Facebook? If you’re still doing this, then it’s official, you’re old. Well, at least according to Generation Z, you are. Born between 1996 and 2009, they know everything there is to know about the interne

      4 min read

    • Article

      Say You Were Gonna Make a Bomb: On Bud Smith’s ‘Teenager’

      Jun 27, 2022

      If you can’t suspend your disbelief on page one, Teenager warns, you’re going to have a bad time. The post Say You Were Gonna Make a Bomb: On Bud Smith’s ‘Teenager’ appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Come the Renaissance

      May 20, 2020

      I’VE escaped from the Abbey. Am I skipping up the drive back to the house, swinging my guitar case and trilling I Have Confidence in Me? Not so much. Bit more Fidelio, if I’m honest: creeping, wan, unshaven, shielding my eyes from the unfamiliar sun.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Major Mitchell

      May 15, 2019

      Major Mitchell
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Ballad Of Cosmic Dave

      May 5, 2022

      The Ballad Of Cosmic Dave
      6 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Aug 16, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Immortal Bird

    4/5

    30 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      One thing is certain: I won't forget this story and its lessons. This real life story of Damon, a boy with a heart condition, and his family is touching, compelling, and appalling. The big lesson for everyone is not to take medical pronouncements lightly and to do your research. Doctors are people, too, and there are all kinds of them just as there are all kinds of people in every profession. Don't stop asking questions and don't hesitate to speak up, question, and get other opinions.

      Damon teaches us how to live fully. His family shows us devotion and so much more. I fell in love with Damon, his attitude, and his family. The book might change how you think about a number of things, and reading about Damon could change your own perspective on any number of things. Doron Weber, the author and a writer, honors his son on multiple levels with this book.
    • 4/5
      Immortal Bird by Doron Weber is a father's tribute to his son, Damon, who died too early. Damon was born on August 8, 1988 with a congenital heart defect that required two open heart surgeries (the Fontan procedure) when he was a baby. Years later, a month after 9/11, it becomes clear to his vigilant and hyper-alert parents that Damon is not thriving and something else may be wrong. Damon has PLE, protein losing enteropathy.

      After exhaustive medical checkups and intensive research by Weber, all signs seemingly point to the PLE being a result of the Fontan operation. Doron learns that if the medical community cannot find a way to stabilize Damon's PLE, he will eventually need a heart transplant. Finally it became clear that Damon needs the heart transplant, which brings in its wake a whole new set of concerns. One clearly evident failure was the medical community in charge of Damon's case - or rather their lack of taking charge and following through with the proper attentive need for care and concern - and even proper medication.

      At the same time that his parents are seeking a way to help him, Damon is clearly maturing and showing himself to have the potential to become a great actor. Even while clearly not well, he still manages to thrive socially as much as he is able to and explore his talents and abilities.

      Is this a memoir for everyone? No.

      I just don't think this is a memoir I could recommend to some people because they couldn't emotionally handle reading it. For some people Immortal Bird would simple be too painful to read, especially if you have had a family member or close friends struggling to endure and maintain the attentiveness a long-term illness or condition requires. It is a tribute from a heart-broken father to his son that recounts the triumph and the pain. How fragile is our hold on life and yet even a life cut short has value and meaning.

      Members of the medical community might want to read it as a cautionary tale on what not to do. There were some cringe-worthy medical moments that could have been avoided.

      Highly Recommended - but this is not a book for everyone.

      Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from Simon & Schuster and TLC for review purposes.

    • 5/5
      Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir by Doron Weber is a passionate memoir of Doron Weber's son, Damon. Damon was born with a huge health challenge. His heart was missing one of its ventricles. This made him a “blue baby:” He did not get enough oxygen for his body. There are several different birth defects that can cause this syndrome. My brother only lived for six weeks and had a different heart defect. So this experience of losing my brother to this syndrome made reading this book very personal.The author does a lot name dropping and his portrait of his son seems too perfect. His family is affluent and he has a lot of medical connections that he has cultivated. That is the irritating part of the book. Once I accepted that I was deeply engrossed in the story. I kept wondering if Damon would survive his many medical crises. I was hoping so much for him. The author used some of Damon’s blog in the book and it seemed like Damon was speaking to me. Damon struggled with the PLE (protein loosing enteropathy) which is sometimes a result from the operation that helped him after he was born. It was his parent’s constant battle to keep him alive, Damon loved the theatre and anything connected with drama. He had a lifetime of frustration with LPE and but that did not daunt his spirit. Doron Weber relates his frustration with the medical “system” and careless but tragic mistakes in Damon’s treatment. I can believe what happened and understand the author’s anger. I have had similar experiences.I encourage everyone who is interested in medicine and the struggles that a family goes through with a serious disease to read this book.I received this book as a win from First reads but that in no way determined my thoughts or feelings in this review.
    • 3/5
      I've never before read a book that was about one of the saddest things ever (the tragic illness of a child), and yet managed to turn me off because the author was such a braggart!! I know, I know- it seems impossible, right? Yet this author manages to brag about everything! His child -which I understand-to a degree. A big degree even. But it seemed incredulous that everything this kid touched turned to gold, and that he was adored by every single human being in his life. Even his birthday parties were described as an event where people 'from all over the globe' flew for days to attend. People in their life are more focused on his family, than their own!The father will tell you that he demands the best of everything, and he knows everybody in the world (of a 'certain' status, of coarse!) In medicine, in Hollywood, in art, in theater- you name it- he knows the top guy. (He even gets the kid a walk-on part on 'Deadwood' and I was half waiting for him to win an Emmy for his performance. He calls famous neurosurgeons and argues with them (because he is the smartest person in any situation) As much as you feel for the child, this book seems so much more about the father. And I'm sorry, but he's the guy at a dinner party you pray you don't get seated next to because he will one up you right under the table with his superiority. If I had to call him anything, it might be a blowhard. I'm sorry, but it's true. I'll give him this though: He's a good writer, a very good writer and he explained his son's disease in laymen's terms which was fascinating, and there was no way I was putting the book down. Every now and then he'd pull back on the bragging and then I'd feel bad for being so annoyed, but- it would always start up again. And underneath it all, every time he pulled strings for his son (because of his connections) I kept thinking: What about the 'regular' people, or poor people, who don't know brain surgeons and scientists, and can't call them at midnite with home phone numbers obtained through powerful world figures? Are our 'chattel' doomed? But alas, the book did have one lesson that prevailed: Even if it's not what you know but who you know, it still might not be enough. In that way, perhaps the field is more even than Mr. Weber would ever want to admit. I'm sorry things happened as they did. I just wish he'd been humbled by it.
    • 4/5
      “ So I gird myself and clutch my firstborn even more fervently in my arms. I will draw deeper from my own well, rely even less on others, and spare no exertion as I scour the earth in search of a cure for Damon”.Damon Weber was born with a congenital heart defect, that required surgery. He remained healthy until his early teens, when he suddenly came down with a life-threatening illness, related to his earlier heart condition. Damon was a smart, engaging, supremely talented boy.This is his story, told by his father, in this well-written, relentlessly tough memoir. Which will leave the reader exhausted with anger and tears, as these courageous parents search for a cure, dealing with difficult, uncommunicative doctors and one set-back after another. I did not know the outcome of the book, which could be gut-wrenching at times, but as a father myself, I was always churning with hope. This is not a book for everyone but if you have the stomach for it, be my guest.
    • 5/5
      There is always one; one child, one parent, one sibling, one friend, one pet that you feel closer to. The one who brings joy to your life, who understands you and brings out your best and the one who makes this journey a pleasure, an adventure and the reason you want to see what the day will bring. That was Doron Weber’s son, Damon, whose short life touched him deeply.In Doron’s family memoir, Immortal Bird, he shows us the definition of sacrificial selfless love. A love he and his wife and two other children gave to Damon. This is a heartbreakingly beautiful journey about a father who desperately wants to find a miracle for his son who had 2 heart surgeries as a toddler and years later developed a baffling complication. Doron’s search for a cure is painstaking and his interactions with doctors and hospitals are frustrating and can be used as a wake up call for everyone in America; that even with our best and most cutting edge technologies we fall short in too many critical areas. Please don’t let the sadness contained in this memoir stop you from reading this story; there is life, joy and all the emotions of the human condition within its pages. In the end, Damon shows everyone that the miracle is this: It’s how you live the life you have been given. 5 stars. Thank you to the Amazon Vine Program for offering this wonderful book.
    • 3/5
      The title of this book is taken from Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale", which is appropriate, as this is a father's ode to his talented son which also includes excerpts from his son's blog.Damon Weber is a smart, creative, funny teen who was born with a malformed heart that was corrected by surgery when he was young. By the time he is 14, however, he is still only 5' 6" tall and not growing, having been diagnosed with PLE (a disease which causes protein not be kept in the body) at 13, the disease being a possible side effect of the heart surgeries he had as a toddler. His parents, especially his father, research everything they can about the disease and, having the means to do so, explore as many feasible options outside of heart transplantation as possible in order to keep Damon with them.As a parent, and knowing from the first pages of the novel how it was going to end, this was a sad read. I could tell that the author tried his best to communicate the feeling of love he had for his son, and wanted to let the reader in on a child who was unmistakably a bright light in the world. It was apparent that he tried his best to be fully informed, and also frustratingly obvious were the mistakes and inattention by medical staff as portrayed in these pages. Having had my own battle with doctors brushing me off before my own son's diagnosis, I know how that feels, and it makes a parent angry. It makes a parent angrier when the "cure" itself turns out to be worse than the disease, and due diligence is not applied in figuring out what the resulting illness actually IS (in this case, it should have been obvious to the doctors involved, but the initial prescribed treatment was the OPPOSITE of what should have been done).To THIS reader, however, the telling often felt stiff, forced, and, at times, overly dramatic. Every now and then, I caught a glimmer of something .. whether it be the dread of foreboding or the happiness at a triumph, but then the writing would go back to a somewhat superficial recounting.I know that this must have been a difficult story to write, and I commend the author for this tribute to his son's spirit. QUOTES (from an ARC; may be different in final copy):The world carries on as before.But underneath my feet, deep cracks and fissures appear. I shiver and hear someone who sounds suspiciously like myself begin to sob and scream.I feel my wife's suffering more acutely than my own, because my powerful feelings for Damon have not yet developed - fatherhood remains largely an abstraction to me - and I don't understand that this little pale infant with his reddish tuft of hair will become the center of my life.From Damon's blog:Honestly I'll never understand how I got through the last 3 years as well as I did. And now when I think of what I might have been able to do with those 3 years had it not been for PLE it makes me kinda sad. I guess I never really accepted it or admitted it before but now it's suddenly sort of hit me; I had a disease and a bad one, one that could and did kill people and one that no one really knew anything definitive about and who could blem them. About 10,000 people in America have3 had my operation (the original 1) and 10% of those get PLE that's not exactly much of a data base. And one that could have eventually killed me and was weakening me day by day.BOOK RATING: 3 out of 5 stars