Saturday, January 3, 2009

Tragedy for movie star John Travolta as 16-year-old son Jett dies on family holiday

John Travolta's son Jett has died after he suffered a seizure and hit his head on the bathtub during a family holiday in the Bahamas.

A house caretaker found Jett, 16, unconscious in a bathroom late Friday morning.

He was taken by ambulance to the Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Department.

Hollywood actor Travolta was said to be devastated last night following the death.

Jett, the star's eldest child with wife and actress Kelly Preston, had last been seen entering the bathroom on Thursday and had a history of seizures, according to the statement.

Family attorney Michael Ossi said in a statement that Jett died suddenly on Friday. An autopsy is planned.

Despite desperate attempts to revive him, the teenager died at the family’s oceanfront home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island, Ossi confirmed.

No exact cause of death was given, but his parents have said in the past that Jett suffered from Kawasaki Syndrome, a rare condition that can lead to heart disease.

Kawasaki disease predominantly affects young children, with 80 per cent of patients younger than five years old, and boys are more likely to suffer with it than girls.

The condition is characterised by high fever, skin rashes and a swelling of the lymph nodes, but can lead to heart attacks caused by inflammation of blood vessels in the coronary arteries.

Kawasaki disease is one of the most common causes of acquired heart disease among children in the U.S.

John Travolta

The actor and his and 16-year-old son during a recent family holiday in Paris

Jett was understood to have been found unconscious in a bathtub and was rushed to Rand Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

In a 2002 interview, Preston said her son became ‘very, very sick with high fever and swollen glands and peeling fingers and rash all over his body’ when he was three years old.

She believes exposure to carpet-cleaning chemicals was responsible for his illness and as a result the Jerry Maguire actress became a crusader for the development and use of safe household chemicals.

Actor John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston
Travolta and wife Kelly Preston, pictured at the premiere of Hairspray last year

Travolta, who named one of his many aeroplanes after his son, said the teenager loved outdoor pursuits.

The couple said recently they were hoping to have another baby. They married in 1991 and have a daughter, Ella, who is eight.

The actor, who has starred in a string of hit films over more than three decades, including Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction and Hairspray, was previously involved with actress Diana Hyland, who died of breast cancer in 1977.


Source: Daily Mail Uk.

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