Lasun Alagbe
Apart from dementia, veteran actor, Olu Jacobs, also have issues with his eyes.
This was revealed by his wife, Joke Silva, who is also a seasoned actress.
In a recent interview, she however, noted that Jacobs remained loved in the family, while he also tries to give such back as far as he could.
Silva said:
“He has dementia with Lewis body which is totally different from Alzheimers. The treatment for Alzheimers and Dementia with Lewis body are contra-indicative.
If you use the medication for Alzheimers for somebody with dementia with lewis body, they go ballistic.
So we discovered that because we got a geriatologist.
I always like to say this. That once you get past that age of about 60-something, the kind of doctors that should be treating you when you’re in your 70s, 80s, are called geriatologists.
They deal with geratrics, so their treatment is different.
In the early years, it was difficult because we didn’t understand what we were dealing with. But once we understood, he got better. Physically, health wise, Olu is absolutely fine.
He is healthy. He is strong. He arm-wrestles with his boys and they pay attention when they’re arm-wrestling with him because it’s very possible that this man of 80-something can win.
He’s very strong, he’s healthy. But once in a while of course he’ll have some health issues and we’ll go to the hospital and sort it out.
He also has issues with his eyes, so his vision is pretty impaired.
We got some people to work with him on that so he can manipulate the house easier.
But when he’s in a strange place, you find that he shuffles.
So when people see him outside, they say he’s shuffling.
It’s simply because he cannot see or navigate that place properly. But apart from that, he’s fine.
But in also relating with him, when you’re having conversations with him, meet him where he is.
So if you’re talking now and he’s saying “I’m supposed to be on set now”, you don’t say “oh, there’s no set”, you say “oh yes, in a couple of minutes, you will be on set.”
Or he will say ‘You said you’re going to Ibadan” when you never mentioned Ibadan. Your response to that is “Probably in the next hour, I’ll be on my way to Ibadan.’
You will find that after a while, by himself he will get himself and know where he made a mistake.
Also, for most people who are in that situation, their fat making mechanism doesn’t work very well. He eats well, but it just burns. That’s why he looks so frail.”
