Jett and his parents

I was feeling so good after watching the movie, “Peaceful Warrior” with my family…so good that I had to post a note on Facebook about it.
Then I saw the news on CNN.com…

And I was absolutely stunned.

It was totally out of the blue—the 16-year-old son, Jett, of actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston, had died. He was found unconscious in the bathtub, perhaps hitting his head when he suffered a seizure. At this time the specific cause of his death is unknown.

Jett was vacationing with his family in the Bahamas.

I’ve read Jett Travolta had a developmental disability. His parents linked it to Kawasaki disease—an inflammatory disorder of the artery walls that most commonly occurs in young children and can lead to heart disease. It’s very rare. And I’d never heard of it before this happened.

I’ve read that when Jett was 2, he became ill with flu symptoms, including fever, rashes and swollen lymph nodes, before a doctor diagnosed him with Kawasaki disease.

But I’ve also read how some people wonder if Jett was autistic, something John, as a scientologist, denies (apparently scientologists do not recognize autism).

At this point it doesn’t matter if Jett was autistic or not, unless it would have factored into his death.

In any case, my heart goes out to Jett’s eight-year-old sister, Ella Bleu, and her parents!

photo by Devon/INF

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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