Brooke Landau is a woman in the media who has worked in the areas of modeling, film and television production, and broadcasting for over two decades. Born in Ridgefield, Connecticut , she first worked in management and then began a career in modeling. Simultaneously, she branched out into film and television production, where she produced for both movies and televisions. In 2002, she entered into the world of journalism and started working in broadcasting for news channels. She is a public face for the illness Lyme disease, and advocates for awareness and improved treatment and detection for the disease. ^{[35] [2] [17]}

Brooke Landau grew up in Ridgefield, Connecticut, with her two parents, Frank and Dianne Landau. She graduated from Ridgefield High School (Connecticut) in 1990 ^[35]. Then, she attended college at the University of Rochester in the Arts and Sciences Department and graduated with a degree in Business Management/Psychology in 1994. She graduated Magna cum laude, and was part of the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society and the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority House ^{[15] [33]}.

After graduating from the University of Rochester, Landau worked in management for Coca Cola. ^[28] She then worked in various management positions for Timex, Nabisco, Warner Bros, and 20th Century Fox. ^[28] In 1997, she hosted the Bob Marley Festival forMTV . ^[28] Shortly after, she worked withFox News in Los Angeles, California, where she put together a show about the health struggles she had experienced. ^[28] This show contributed to the network winning an Emmy Award in 2002. ^[28]

Brooke Landau then went on to further her career by going to work at CBS's KSWT station in 2002 in Yuma, Arizona, where she was an evening news anchor until 2003. ^[15] Landau then went to work as a writer for KTLA in Los Angeles, California. E! Entertainment Television was her next stop, where she worked as their producer for the showTrue Hollywood Story . She worked there until 2006, while at the same time working for ESPN as a feature reporter. While at ESPN, she covered the Kentucky Derby. ^[15] She also interviewed many, including Woody Harelson, Jessica Simpson, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning during this period. ^[28]

In 2006, she left both of those jobs and joined ABC San diego at KJTV Channel 10 News. She worked forChannel 10 News until November of 2008, when she joined the CW Network as their Weather Forecaster forChannel 6 News. ^[15] She also works as a News Anchor for them and is their Features and Medical Reporter. ^[15] Landau is known for being witty and energetic in her work, as shown in videos of her work. ^[27]

In 2005, Landau produced the TV movie documentaryTHS Investigates: Women Who Kill. Moving onto TV shows, in 2006, Landau worked as a Segment Producer for twoE! Entertainment Television productions, includingAmerican Pie UncoveredandSports Stars, Private Lives. She also worked as a segment producer for the showsCharles in Charge andPunky Brewster in that same year. In 2007, she worked as a Segment Producer for the DocumentaryMean Girls.

Brooke Landau's modeling career began after an agent discovered Brooke in a New York shopping mall. ^[28] She went on to model for Ralph Lauren clothing, Nicole Miller, Gucci, and Valentino. ^[28] Brooke also won the Venus Swimwear International Model Search contest. ^[28] She then modeled for ads for BodyGlove swimwear. ^[28]

Brooke Landau founded the non-profit organization Children's Alliance Network a year after she developed significant health problems.

^[28] The Alliance is sponsored by MAC Cosmetics ^[35]. It aims to help children with health problems to raise their self-esteem. They do so by utilizing models and make-up artists to give kids make-overs. ^[4]

Landau is a National Spokesperson for the American Heart Association, where she gives speeches to educate and motivate people for wellness. ^[28]

In 2017, Landau was the Master of Ceremony for the fundraiser called Little Hearts Big Hope, an annual fundraiser that raises funds for pediatric cardiology.

^[30]

Brooke Landau is married to Tony Maturani, who is the Director of Client Relations at Earnest Packaging Solutions ^[20].

As they were unable to get pregnant because of Landau's health struggles, they used a Surrogate mom to have a child through the company Surrogacy Together ^{[20] [25]}. The surrogate became pregnant on the first attempt with a boy ^[21]. Their surrogate gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Hudson ^[25].

Brooke Landau had a Congenital heart defect as a child and needed multiple open-heart surgeries. ^[28]

Brooke has struggled with Lyme disease since 1995, which she developed suddenly one morning a year after she graduated from college. ^{[22] [28]} L andau reports that she went to sleep one night and woke up the next morning unable to move large parts of her body. ^[34] She went to the hospital, where an emergency spinal tap revealed she had Lyme disease and Spinal meningitis. ^[4] Landau reports that she was bitten by dear tick in Connecticut a while before her illness began, and that that is likely where she contracted the disease. ^[3] However, the standard treatment for Lyme Disease left her as ill as ever, with many symptoms that included paralysis that left her unable to more for a year and a half, chronic pain, headaches, weight loss, hearing and vision loss, memory loss, and fatigue. ^{[4] [35]} During her struggle, she developed arthritis, gallstones, colitis, heart arryhthmia, and heart palpitations. ^{[32] [34]}

Her illness continued to progress, prompting her to move from Connecticut to Florida in hopes that a warmer climate might help her condition. ^[35] However, she continued in the same condition and her pain continued to worsen. Throughout the years, she was tested many more times for Lyme Disease, but she often tested negative for Lyme Disease. She says this is due to the inaccurate testing, which is inaccurate 60% of the time. ^[17] She eventually made her way to Dr. Burrascano in 2001 after struggling with the illness for seven years, who utilized an experimental treatment to heal Landau. Landau had antibiotics pumped into her heart for two months straight and underwent Hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment every day for a month ^[34]. At the end of this treatment, Landau tested negative consistently for Lyme Disease, and the only symptom she still struggles with is chronic pain. ^[4] However, Landau's doctor had his license suspended for a time over his experimental treatment of Landau and other patients in the same predicament that did not follow official Center for Disease Control guidelines. Many patients and doctors find themselves in Landau's position, unable to overcome the disease with standard treatment and in need of more, and often experimental treatment, that is hard to obtain. This is due to the Lyme disease controversy, which finds physicians disagreeing with each other on whether Chronic Lyme Disease exists, what the treatment for the disease should entail, and whether the testing is accurate.

Brooke Landau appeared on theDr. Phil Show show on April 13, 2014 on the episodeDeadlyConsequences. ^[19] The episode looked at Lyme Disease and featured several people, including Landau, who suffer from the illness. The episode sought to look at the illness itself, the suffering it causes, and the medical and legal controversies surrounding the disease. Brooke defends patients who suffer from Lyme Disease, explaining that the blood test for the disease is inaccurate 60% of the time, and talk about how hard it is to get a diagnoses and subsequent treatment ^[19].

Landau's story has also been featured on many other programs.

She told her story onChannel 6 News, where she works as a weather forecaster, in order to show people her story with Lyme Disease. ^[18] Her struggle to obtain a diagnoses was chronicled on the showMystery ER on the episode Eating Away on August 25, 2008. ^[31]* San Diego Magazine profiled Landau in November 2011 about her health struggles. ABC News chronicled her story and interviewed Landau about the illness and the controversy surrounding it on Good Morning America *. ^[17]

Landau also interviewed musician Daryl Hall, singer in Hall and Oats, about his struggle with Lyme Disease, the controversy surrounding the disease, and how he continues with his music in spite of it. ^[16]

"People ask me all the time, how could you handle being sick for more than seven years and in constant pain and still have a life?

I'm always shocked by the question.

I figured it's the only choice.

You have to persevere."

-Brooke Landau,The Courier, 2005 [32]

"Though I will probably have some measure of chronic pain throughout my life, I consider myself among the lucky.

Through it all I've found an inner strength to fight and survive."

-Brooke Landau,Newstimes, 2004 ^[35]

"I live life with a relentless hope-and that can never be taken away."

-Brooke Landau,San Diego Magazine, 2007 ^[32]

"Not to sound like a Nike commercial or anything, but you just do it.

You just do it."

-Brooke Landau,CW 6 News, 2009 ^[18]

"I think you just have to have this relentless hope that things will get better because things are in a constant state of change, and yes you can get worse, but you can also get a lot better as I did...You can't let go of that hope."

-Brooke Landau,CW 6 News, 2009 ^[18]

"At a certain point you have to stop asking why and start answering what.

You have to stop saying 'why me, why did this happen' and instead answer 'what am I going to do about this now that this has happened'."

-Brooke Landau,CW 6 News, 2009 ^[17]*