 |
|
Jett Travolta is pictured in this
undated photograph, released January 4, 2009.(Photo:
chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies) Photo
Gallery>>> |
BEIJING, Jan. 6 -- Actor John Travolta's son,
Jett, died from "seizure disorder," a Bahamas funeral home official said on
Monday after pathologists performed an autopsy on the body of the teenager who
suffered a seizure last week at his family's holiday home.
Bahamian authorities did not make public the results
of the autopsy, which was observed by Travolta's family doctor. Police
Commissioner Reginald Ferguson said the findings would not be released because
"there is nothing criminal about the situation."
Keith McSweeney, funeral director for the Restview
Memorial Mortuary in Freeport, where the boy's body was sent after the autopsy,
said the death certificate listed "seizure disorder" as the cause of death.
Jett, 16, had a history of seizures and was found
unconscious in a bathroom at his family's home in the Old Bahama Bay resort on
Grand Bahama Island on Friday morning. He was pronounced dead after being taken
by ambulance to Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport.
Dozens of relatives flew to Grand Bahama to comfort
John Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, said Obie Wilchcombe, a
member of parliament for western Grand Bahama.
The couple, who also have an 8-year-old daughter,
Ella, issued a statement on Sunday saying they were heartbroken by the loss of
their son.
"Jett was the most wonderful son that two parents
could ever ask for and lit up the lives of everyone he encountered," Travolta
said in the statement. "We are heartbroken that our time with him was so brief.
We will cherish the time that we had with him for the rest of our lives."
John Travolta and paramedics tried without success to
resuscitate the boy.
The family's statement did not refer to Jett's
medical history or possible cause of death. But Travolta's lawyers, Michael Ossi
and Michael McDermott, were quoted on Sunday as saying Jett apparently suffered
from grand mal seizures, which can cause 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's use was suspended after it lost
its effectiveness amid concern about side effects, however, and that Jett had
been suffering about one extremely serious seizure a week.
Travolta and his wife have said that Jett was sick
when he was a toddler and was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, which leads to
inflammation of the blood vessels in young children.
(Source: chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)