Songbirds Keep Singing: A Memoir of Healing from Autoimmune Brain Inflammation
Songbirds Keep Singing: A Memoir of Healing from Autoimmune Brain Inflammation blends personal accounts, research, and the author’s public health background as she searches for answers following her first seizure. Using her experience as both a survivor and nurse, Lisa explores the value of applying holistic concepts such as mindset, nutrition, exercise, gut health, hormones, and the environment alongside conventional medicine treatments to recover from a rare autoimmune disease. This book is a valuable resource for anyone navigating a complicated diagnosis who is curious about taking a multi-targeted approach to healing autoimmune inflammation comprehensively.
Empowering and informative, Songbirds Keep Singing is a must read for people with brain injuries and autoimmune diseases, caregivers and health care professionals. It offers a roadmap to robust health for anyone seeking to balance their immune system and improve brain health.
In 2017, forty-five-year-old Lisa Lauter experienced mysterious neurological symptoms. For months, she didn’t feel like herself and doctors had no answers. A mother of three preteen boys, Lisa had many reasons to explain away her odd symptoms. In her situation, what parent wouldn’t be tired, forgetful, and sleep-deprived? But that didn’t explain the weakness in her left side, the tingling feeling, and numbness. It didn’t explain why, on a relaxing summer day, Lisa had her first tonic-clonic seizure.
Key Themes:
Conventional + holistic care — a multi-targeted approach to healing
Advocacy & awareness — diagnosing a rare disease with diverse symptoms
Gut-brain connection — how an anti-inflammatory diet aids brain health
Hormones & environment — the often-overlooked factors in autoimmune health
Mindset, meditation, mindfulness — practices that affect brain healing
Rehabilitation approaches — rebuilding strength and resilience
Hope — healing one step at a time
Buy the book! (coming soon)
Author: Lisa Lauter, BNSc, MPH
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 978-I-03-836924-6
Page Count: 167
Format: Paperback
Publication Date: Aug 2026
Praise for Songbirds Keep Singing:
Songbirds Keep Singing is a unique and thought-provoking memoir that moves beyond the traditional illness narrative, offering an innovative and deeply inquisitive exploration of one person’s journey through LGI1 encephalitis. With curiosity at its core, it courageously examines complex and emerging ideas—from women’s health and hormones to the environment, the gut–brain axis and holistic approaches—in a personal quest to make sense of illness and recovery. While this is an individual story…the curious questioning provides a compelling and reflective account that will resonate with many navigating their own path to understanding and healing.
Dr Ava Easton, Chief Executive, MBE, Encephalitis International
In Song Birds Keep Singing, Lisa Lauter beautifully weaves her journey through autoimmune encephalitis with stories of family travels, life’s unexpected challenges, and the unwavering love, support, and inspiration of those around her. From the earliest mysterious symptoms to a devastating decline, and ultimately a powerful recovery, Lisa remains grounded in what matters most: her family and her determination to heal, one step at a time.
Through her storytelling, Lisa offers a meaningful window into the complexities of this often misunderstood disease, while highlighting the critical role of support systems and perseverance in the healing process. Her insights and personal reflections provide both comfort and practical guidance for patients, caregivers, and clinicians alike. The Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance is proud to support and elevate stories like Lisa’s, which foster greater awareness, understanding, and hope. This book is a valuable resource for anyone navigating an autoimmune encephalitis diagnosis or seeking to better understand the patient experience.
Meg Poe, Executive Director, Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance
Songbirds Keep Singing is a moving memoir of healing from autoimmune encephalitis by survivor Lisa Lauter. Affecting both body and mind, this devastating illness is explored here with clarity, intelligence, and compassion. Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, the book speaks not only to survivors, but also to the families, friends, and caregivers who support them through recovery.
The narrative unfolds along two compelling tracks. One serves as a practical and thoughtful guide to the many challenges of healing and rehabilitation. The other is a personal memoir tracing Lisa’s remarkable life journey, including her experiences living and traveling beyond the United States and Canada. Together, these threads create a deeply human story of resilience, adaptation, and hope.
Nesrin Shaheen, past president, Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis Foundation, Canada