John Travolta's son dies in Bahamas
NASSAU (Reuters) – The teenage son of actor John Travolta died suddenly on Friday during a family vacation in the Bahamas, according to the family's lawyer.
Jett Travolta, 16, suffered a seizure at his family's vacation home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island, attorney Michael Ossi said.
Attempts were made to revive him, but he died at the scene, Ossi said.
Jett, who had a history of seizures, was the eldest child of Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston. They also have a daughter, Ella Blue, who was born in 2000.
The only question harder than, "how do I live with my child who has autism?" is "how do I live with out him?"
UPDATE: The New York Post on Jett's autism, medical treatment or lack there of.
I earnestly hope that this didn't happen because Jett's seizure disorder was not treated. It is bad enough that Scientology does not recognize autism as anything other than an psychosomatic expression of some sort of moral weakness, if it also prevented his family from giving him needed seizure meds, as it has with others, I pray that this will be a wake up call to those who adhere to its practice.
Scientology has hurt a lot of people and I truly hope Jett was not another one of their victims.
UPDATE: Reuters is reporting that Jett had been on Depakote but was taken off. Chandler is not a child with seizures so I don't know enough about these meds to comment. Perhaps one of my readers with more experience on the subject might.:
"Travolta's lawyers, Michael Ossi and Michael McDermott, were quoted on Sunday as saying Jett apparently suffered from grand mal, a type of epilepsy marked by convulsions and loss of consciousness.
He was on an anti-seizure medication called Depakote for several years, Ossi and McDermott told the celebrity website TMZ.
They said the drug was suspended after it lost its effectiveness amid concern about side effects, however, and Jett had been suffering about one extremely serious seizure a week".
Update:
The autopsy is in and Jett died of a seizure. He has been cremated and will be laid to rest in Florida.
No doubt this will only be the beginning of intense scruteny into the Travolta's parenting decisions and the part that Scientology may have played in choosing not to treat Jett's seizures at the time of his death, and the family's public denials of Jett's autism, but I will leave that to others to hash out.
For now, I just want to reiterate my sadness for the family at loosing their beautiful boy.
I am so sick of our kids dying.
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