John Travolta Tragedy: When Rumors and Private Lives Collide

John Travolta and Kelly Preston attended the funeral of their 16-yr-old son Jett Thursday in Ocala, Florida.

According to the New York Daily News, a memorial service was held for Jett “under a white tent erected outside their Florida home”.

Jett’s cause of death was related to a seizure. According to a family spokesperson, Jett suffered at least “4 violent seizures a week. ”

“An autopsy revealed the boy, whom the family says suffered from a rare childhood blood vessel malady known as Kawasaki disease, died from seizure disorder.”

Rumors had swirled around the Travoltas for years that Jett was also autistic, a brain disorder which the Travolta’s religion, The Church of Scientology, does not recognize. The rumors surfaced from those who observed Jett’s behavior and the tight leash the Travolta’s kept on their private lives.

The Travoltas have maintained that their son suffered from the effects of Kawasaki Syndrome, a rare childhood disorder. They now maintain that it was seizures related to Kawasaki Syndrome that resulted in his death. Yet Kawasaki Syndrome is not known for seizures.

Walter Molofsky, chief of pediatric neurology at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, on long term side effects of Kawasaki Syndrome:

“The main, long-term side effects are cardiac problems, such as aortic aneurysms (a bulge in the blood vessel leading away from the heart that is dangerous, because it may burst, spilling blood and potentially causing hemorrhaging), cardiac arrythmias (irregular heartbeats), inflammatory disease of the heart and abnormalities in the heart valves. Twenty to 25 percent of patients develop a coronary artery aneurysm afterwards. The mean age at presentation for cardiac damage is 24, plus or minus 8 years. It’s recommended that Kawasaki patients be followed for 10 or 20 years.

Seizures are very uncommon. Maybe during the acute episode during a high fever; fevers themselves can cause seizures sometimes. But Kawasaki syndrome is rarely a cause of encephalitis (swelling of the brain) or residual brain problems. I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule, but I can’t speak to that.”

There is no laboratory test available to recognize Kawasaki disease with 100% accuracy, but there are a collection of signs and symptoms used to diagnose children with the disease. These include fever lasting at least 5 days, and four out of five other criteria which include (1) redness of the eyes, (2) redness of the tongue or area around the mouth, (3) the swelling and peeling of the hands, (4) a rash on the body of the child, and (5) swollen glands (lymphadenopathy). There are other signs of Kawasaki disease that may be helpful for diagnosis, such as irritability, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, although these do not occur in all children with the disease. Kawasaki disease is a self-limited illness, which means that the symptoms described here will go away on their own with time, but this can take 6-8 weeks and damage can be done to the coronary arteries if treatment is not received during the acute phase.
--checnet.org

When Jett died it was reported that he had two nannies, an admission that some may find startling for a boy 16-yrs-old.

In March of 2003, Jett’s mom, Kelly Preston, spoke about the awareness of Kawasaki Syndrome.

Preston spoke about how her son was diagnosed with Kawasaki Syndrome after the 2-yr-old boy became ill with flu-like symptoms. Jett was eventually diagnosed as suffering from Kawasaki Syndrome:

“Ms. Preston: Kawasaki syndrome is a–a disease that–they don’t know how you acquire it, they’re not sure if it’s viral, if it’s through chemicals. And it causes swelling in the organs, so your heart can swell, different important organs can swell. And it affects–it can affect anybody. But it–primarily in the ward that we had him in–I rushed him to the hospital. They did all of the tests. They said, ‘Indeed, we think he has Kawasaki syndrome.’ And the entire ward was filled with children with Kawasaki syndrome, something I’d never heard of.”

After Preston spoke about the effects of carpet cleaning and the link to Kawasaki, Preston was asked about any residual affects of the disease on Jett:

“Ms. PRESTON: It was a couple of–well, his temperature they had got down and they would keep down. And then it took a couple of days before he was out of the woods.

WILLIAMS: Out of the woods.

Ms. PRESTON: And then he was fine.

WILLIAMS: And then is there a residual effect that you see?

Ms. PRESTON: He has allergies, and at one point he had a very severe asthma attack. And that’s another thing. Asthma is up. There’s five million kids with asthma.”

Preston, in this interview in 2005, speaking out about Kawasaki Syndrome, never mentioned that her son suffered from seizures. She did talk about having Jett undergoing a “detox” program given by the Church of Scientology based on book written by founder, science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, titled “”Clean–Clear Body and Clear Mind.”

“WILLIAMS: But with Jett, you started him on a program that I think is talked about in this book by L. Ron Hubbard. It’s “Clean–Clear Body and Clear Mind.”

Ms. PRESTON: Exactly.

WILLIAMS: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about this?

Ms. PRESTON: Well, this is a p–program that’s detailed in the book. We basically store all of these chemicals and poisons and toxins that you breathe, eat, you know, that you’re around constantly. Radiation from the sun, you store it in your fatty tissues. And over the years it builds up, and this is a program of how you can detoxify it completely and purify your body. It’s brilliant.”

Yet there’s a mystery surrounding the true circumstances of Jett’s life and death, which the Travoltas kept and continue to keep private.

While many celebrities speak about illnesses that have affected their lives, in order to raise awareness and bring hope to others who suffer the same circumstance, such as Jenny McCarthy and her son’s austism:

Jenny McCarthy – already the author of two bestsellers about pregnancy and motherhood – has another book in the works, this one about having an autistic child, which she vows will “give moms hope” about raising autistic kids.

McCarthy said Thursday that her son, Evan Joseph Asher, who turns 5 this month, has been diagnosed with the disorder, but that he “has come a long way.”

“I did want to acknowledge and confirm the fact that my son does, indeed, have an autism diagnosis,” McCarthy, 34, said on Thursday’s edition of ABC’s The View, on which she served as guest cohost.
–People Magazine

Or Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil and his daughter’s death due to cancer:

“In 1995, I lost my daughter Skylar to cancer, ” writes Neil on his website, “Since that time I have tried to do everything I can to help raise awareness and much needed funding for children’s illnesses. I’m so humbled by the response that we receive from our gracious tournament sponsors and participants for the past eleven years. To date they have helped me to raise nearly two-million dollars to fund research to combat cancer, AIDS and Leukemia. I know that Skylar would be proud of the work that we’ve done, and I couldn’t think of a better way to honor her memory.”
–Look to the Stars.org

Kelly Preston’s campaign was Kawasaki Disease, the same disease the Travolta’s cited as being related to their son’s death. Preston even spoke about a Church of Scientology detox program the Travoltas had their son undergo which purportedly “cleansed” both his body and his mind. Both John Travolta and Kelly Preston are staunch supporters of the Church of Scientology. They chose to keep the true details of their son’s condition private even when Preston was publicly speaking out about Kawasaki and touting a Church of Scientology detox program used on her son.

Preston claimed in the 2005 interview about Kawasaki that Jett suffered few lingering affects of Kawasaki, other than allergies and a bout of asthma, while seizures were not mentioned. Nor was Jett’s mental capacity.

In today’s New York Daily News, actor Forest Whitaker was quoted about Jett:

“We have watched each other’s children grow and cannot imagine the loss of Jett. He was a bright and beautiful young man, and we are honored to have known him.”

From the Chicago Tribune who reported Jett as being “enigmatic”:

In the wake of Jett Travolta’s death from a seizure during a family vacation in the Bahamas, speculation has swirled around the enigmatic 16-year-old.

Now a cover story preview at People.com offers a picture of the teen who “shared his father’s famous ocean-blue eyes but rarely made eye contact with outsiders; the young man who often smiled but was never heard speaking.”

Although Jett’s behavior led some observers to believe he suffered from autism, his famous parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, never addressed such speculation publicly.

“I observed that [Jett] was significantly mentally handicapped,” family friend Anne Archer tells People. “John always communicated to him as if Jett could completely understand him. … It was a kind of sweet exchange.”

If Anne Archer’s assessment of Jett is to be believed, then Jett’s life consisted of more than just suffering from any lingering effects of Kawasaki Syndrome. Preston never mentioned when speaking about Kawasaki that her son suffered from bouts of serious seizures nor had any problems with his mental capacity, even when rumors swirled that Jett’s true condition may have been autism, a medical condition. Kawasaki is not known to be related to seizures, while autism does:

“Approximately 25% of autism patients may experience seizures during the onset of puberty. While some individuals will experience convulsions and other visually noticeable seizure activity, many will experience subclinical seizures which are at high risk of going untreated. While it is not known why some children begin experiencing seizures at puberty, many suspect it may be related to the effect of hormones on the brain.

One may think that ‘minor’ or subclinical seizures must not be serious enough to warrant treatment, any untreated seizure activity can have serious, long-term effects on an autistic patient. Some autistic children who were defined as “high functioning” prior to puberty had degraded to low functioning status by their late teens, due to untreated subclinical seizures.”
–Information about autism.com

According to USA Today, the Travolta’s attorney, Michael McDermott, stated that the Travolta’s did have Jett on anti-seizure medication, but that they chose to discontinue it after it had begun to adversely affect their son:

“They gave him an anti-seizure medication, Depakote, for over a year. It extended the seizures out to over 21 days. But ultimately the attacks got closer and closer, they had to give more and more medication, and it started to cause organ damage, so they stopped. As far as I know Jett was no longer on medication. But his parents and two nannies supervised him night and day.”

The rumors about autism affecting their son stemmed from those who observed Jett’s behavior. The problem was compounded by the fact that publicly Travola and Preston claimed their son’s condition was based solely on the affects of Kawasaki Syndrome. Yet which “condition” were the Travolta’s talking about? They never stated publicly that anything was wrong with Jett other than his previous bout with Kawasaki and a bout with severe allergies and asthma.

When Jett died, there was no mention of where Jett had attended school, if any. No mention of close buddies, nor favorite activities that a 16-yr-old may have been involved with. Children who suffer from Kawasaki, or from seizures, are known to maintain fairly normal lives such as making friends and attending school. There’s been no mention that this was the life that Jett led. Jett’s life was kept private. It was the Travolta’s behavior regarding their son, as well as the symptoms he displayed, that ultimately led to the rumors of autism.

There’s no argument that the Travolta’s deeply loved and cherished their son. Yet it’s apparent that they chose to keep their son and his plight, at least in regards to his seizures and mental capacity, under wraps. Coupled with the fact that the couple are highly visible members of the Church of Scientology, a religion that many view as a cult founded by a science fiction writer, it’s no surprise that some have viewed the explanation as to the circumstances surrounding of Jett’s life and death with skepticism.

By LBG

Tags: Church of Scientology, death, Jett Travolta, John Travolta, Kelly Preston