The death of the double Oscar nominated star’s son happened while the family were on holiday in the Bahamas in 2009. This year would have marked his 29th birthday. After his death, John Travolta and late wife Kelly Preston were bombarded with conspiracy and rumour relating to the standard of care they had given their son and whether he was autistic or not.
Jett Travolta was the eldest of the couple’s three children and had been suffering from seizures from the age of two.
At 15 months he was also hospitalised and diagnosed with the rare inflammatory condition Kawasaki disease.
The condition mainly affects children under the age of five and according to the NHS is likely to develop if they have inherited certain genes.
The disease causes swelling in the walls of arteries throughout the body, in particular the coronary arteries which supply blood to the heart.
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Swelling is also common during an infection, for example a common cold can lead to mucus membranes inside the skin, mouth, nose and throat becoming inflamed.
The Mayo Clinic states that signs of the disease appear in three phases.
In the first phase an extremely high temperature of 38C or above which does not respond to antibiotics or medicines will be the first indicator.
This fever can last up to 11 days without proper treatment, with a child’s body reaching a high of 40C. A normal temperature for babies and children being around 36.4C.
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Irritability, extremely red eyes, red, dry cracked lips and swollen tongue and red skin on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet are all symptoms within this first phase.
In the second phase which occurs usually in two to four weeks symptoms become less severe but may still be long lasting.
Symptoms include:
- abdominal pain
- vomiting
- diarrhoea
- urine that contains pus
- feeling drowsy and lacking energy
- headache
- joint pain and swollen joints
- yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes (jaundice)
- peeling skin on the fingers and toes, and sometimes also on the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet
Complications with the disease are often related to the heart and children who are diagnosed may be at an increased risk of heart attacks and heart disease later in life.
After the death of Jett Travolta and the closing of a $25 million case surrounding it, the Travolta family stated they believed Jett’s autism and Kawasaki disease played a part in his death.
In an interview with the Telegraph’s Travolta admitted that he had felt so utterly overwhelmed by grief that he seriously considered throwing in the acting towel.
In 2009 the Travolta family set up the Jett Travolta Foundation, a charity that helps fund assistance and support for children with special needs.
