Family Lawyer Attributes the 16-Year-Old's Death to Seizure
John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, died Friday morning at the family's vacation home in The Bahamas after what the family's lawyer says was a seizure-related incident.
In this file photo, John Travolta and son Jett walk to a waiting helicopter at the Santa Monica...
In this file photo, John Travolta and son Jett walk to a waiting helicopter at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, Calif. Jett Travolta, 16, suffered a seizure and died suddenly on Friday at his family's vacation home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island, attorney Michael Ossi said.
(Lucky Mat/Getty Images)The family, including Jett Travolta's mother, Kelly Preston, and his 8-year-old sister, Ella, had been celebrating the New Year in The Bahamas.
"A nanny attempted to revive him, all attempts were made, but he couldn't be revived," Travolta's attorney, Michael Ossi, who is also in The Bahamas, told ABCNews.com. "They tried as hard as they could to revive Jett."
Ossi added that the teenager "has had seizures in the past, but they were controlled. This one couldn't be."
The seizure may be only part of the story. Royal Bahamas Police Force spokeswoman Loretta Mackey told the Associated Press that Jett Travolta died from hitting his head in a bathtub.
Jett Travolta's health made national news in 2002. It was at this time that his mother disclosed that at age 2 he had had a poorly understood condition known as Kawasaki syndrome, a collection of symptoms that stem from swollen arteries.
Researchers believe that inflammation from Kawasaki syndrome, or KS, can lead to convulsions and seizures.
KS primarily affects children under the age of 5, though it can occur in older children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about nine out of 100,000 children have KS. Incidence is higher among Japanese and Korean children, though KS can occur among any ethnicity.
