5 Days in January

"I had seen dad at his most vulnerable, at his most desperate, at points so low that, had been able to witness them himself, he would not have wanted to live. When for the first time you stand in front of your father, him wearing nothing but a singlet, leaning on you, and waiting for you to help him put on his diaper, you can literally hear something break within yourself. Something that cannot be mended...."

Lewy Body Dementia is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's disease and yet much remains unknown about this illness, which is as aggressive in nature as it is cunning in its ability to evade diagnosis.
There are many publications on the subject, including first hand accounts - online blogs, journals and forum entries - written by family members and spouses of other LBD sufferers. And yet most, with a few exceptions, stop short of telling the whole story, omitting what happens to patients in the late stages and thus leaving families just like yours and the mine in the dark as to what lies ahead.

'5 Days in January' chronicles my father's Lewy Body Dementia journey from onset right through to his final moments. It is a brutally honest and highly personal account of the rollercoaster that is LBD - "Bastard Lewy". But it is also an attempt to let readers look beyond his condition and at the man, the father, grandfather and husband Norbert Landeck was; a reconciliation of sorts, between his life before and what became of it after LBD sunk its claws into him and in the process indelibly changed everyone around him forever.

All proceeds from the sale of this book go to charitable causes associated with Lew Body Dementia Research, Care and Family Support.

For over 16 years now, RB Landeck has been a consultant for governments and international humanitarian organizations in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, working in emergency and active conflict contexts. Outside his humanitarian work, RB focuses on script writing, non-fiction and general educational media. He is the author of several books and film scripts as well as more than 20 original graphic novels.