My husband battling ‘Dementia with Lewy bodies’, Joke Silva breaks silence on Olu Jacob’s health challenges

Veteran actress, Joke Silva has opened up concerning the health condition of her husband and fellow actor, Olu Jacobs.

The actor has been off the movie screens but recently he was seen publicly at Africa International Film Festival Awards (AFRIFF) in Lagos, looking frail.

The actress in an interview with Chude Jideonwo revealed that her husband has been battling with Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) for a couple of years.

“He is dealing with issues and it has been going on for a couple of years. It is known as dementia with Lewy Body. It is a degenerative disease that affects the brain and it is almost like a Parkinson’s type of disease, it affects the brain so you don’t see the shaking. It affects the person,” she said.

She added that “It is the first time I said that publicly. I knew the time will come that it has to be known.”

The veteran actress also spoke concerning the effect of her husband’s health condition on herself and family members.

“It’s been hard on him because he doesn’t understand what is going on and also on family members as well. We have gone through it over the past couple of years and we thank God.

“We have gone through some times and situations recently that I wish I had the old you here so I don’t battle these times on my own but we are grateful for the moment of clarity. I miss the times we worked together,” she added.

The veteran actor won a lifetime achievement award at the Africa International Film Festival Awards held recently in Lagos.

After sharing a picture of himself with his award on his Instagram page, many of his fans congratulated him and also expressed concern about his frail look.