2026
Childhood dementia has become a national concern i Norway, embodied by fourteen year old Syver Blindheim. After participating in a tv-series with enormous reach, the blind boy from a small island on the Norwegian coast, became a national celebrity. He and his family are fighting childhood dementia through raising awareness about the decease that deprived him of his eye-sight at the age of seven, and that is slowly killing more and more of his brain cells. Syver will die young - unless scientists searching for a cure, reach a brake through in time.
Syver is a personal story of a Norwegian family having to cope with a merciless diagnosis, but the book is also internationally the very first to give a thorough presentation of childhood dementia to the broad public.
The book also offers the incredible story of how Syvers courage and openness led to a whole nation standing up, raising more than 20 000 000 NOK to fund research on childhood dementia. The money enabled an international team of scientists, based in Norway, to speed up their work significantly. Their progress bring hope to the story. And the striking effect of choosing to share and show a previously hidden decease, brings meaning into the life of Syver.
Syver, Fighting Childhood Dementia is a Norwegian bestseller, with more 12 000 copies sold. National literature critics stated it might be "the most important book of the year", "going straight to the heart".
Syver was voted "Ebook of the year 2025".
This is how non-fiction should be written. Perhaps the most important book this year.
Goes straight to the heart. Having a child with a severe illness may never have been more described more explicitly.
Guro Kulset Merakerås
Private
