Travolta's son

[ShallowsNole]

As one who is a parent to a 16-year-old boy - and an aunt to a wonderful nephew who had a nighttime seizure disorder during his teens, when he lived with us - I become physically ill when I think of what the Travolta family must be going through.

With seizures, very rarely does the affected individual have the time to get himself into a safe situation, and all you can do as a family member is to move the furniture out of the way, if you can get there in time.

So, so sad.

 

[JUL]

So sad and I applaud them for being so protective of him when he was living...BR what a tragedy for you and your family

 

[ItzKatzTime]

Not the same island.

I can relate to what the Travolta family is going through. When I was eight and my only sibling was five, Mom stopped off at a friend's house to deliver a gift. While we were playing with the friend's child in their front yard (rolling down the hill like we always did -- it was really fun), a drunk driver lost control of his car, drove into the yard, ran over my brother, and came within inches of hitting us all. I'll never forget the sight of my brother looking like hamburger meat on the street. The driver was arrested and hung himself in the Fulton County jail that night. It made national news. Daddy spent most of his time at the grave (thankfully he could afford to do so), and Mama stayed in bed for a year. We always had a 9-5 maid on Mondays through Fridays (even though Mama didn't work -- what did she do with her time? ), but on days that the maid wasn't there, Daddy would call me from work and guide me through putting frozen dinners in the oven (no microwaves then, so frozen dinners were slow).

Even though my parents showed weakness in not supporting me during that awful time, I can tell you that if I had to go through what they did, I would have blown my brains out. So I admire them for having the strength to shake it off and make the decision to have two more children so that I wouldn't be an "only."

Bless you Beach Runner. Thank you for sharing your story of tragedy. It brings us closer together when we share....and many of us on the board have lost loved ones very young and old.

I too hated to read this news for John Travolta and his wife and daughter. I do know that they have sheltered their children from the cameras and I admire them for that.

May we all receive peace in our hearts at this time.

 

[Will B]

Sadly, it is becoming a little more apparent that this trajedy could have been totally avoided through the routine use of seizure medication. Unfortunately, Scientology and modern medicine don't see eye to eye in some respects. Jett was never treated with meds. Kids with Autism and other afflictions like Kawasaki disease are viewed as "degraded beings" and can only be healed by the Church.

I just don't get it...

 

[poppy]

Sadly, it is becoming a little more apparent that this trajedy could have been totally avoided through the routine use of seizure medication. Unfortunately, Scientology and modern medicine don't see eye to eye in some respects. Jett was never treated with meds. Kids with Autism and other afflictions like Kawasaki disease are viewed as "degraded beings" and can only be healed by the Church.

I just don't get it...

Well it only took 14 posts before the Travoltas' religion was brought into this tragedy.

 

[Will B]

Well it only took 14 posts before the Travoltas' religion was brought into this tragedy.

I thought about leaving it alone, but sadly, it appears to have played a part.

 

[Rudyjohn]

I heard on the news several times that he had been taking anti-seizure meds all along.

 

[beachmouse]

Same here. The problem apparently was that the drug he had been taking had recently started to not work as well as it should.

 

[Will B]

Travola's attorney, Michael McDermott, said that it was unclear if he was on meds. Other reports have said that he was not and that he had been treated using a "detoxification program based on teachings from the Church of Scientology..." (all on MSNBC.com)

I really hope they had him on meds. I'll never judge anybody for their religious beliefs, but after the whole Tom Cruise vs. Brooke Shields and Matt Lauer debacle, Scientology is going to take a huge PR beating if it was preventable using medication, and it turns out that he wasn't on anything. Keep your fingers crossed...

 

[TooFarTampa]

Travola's attorney, Michael McDermott, said that it was unclear if he was on meds. Other reports have said that he was not and that he had been treated using a "detoxification program based on teachings from the Church of Scientology..." (all on MSNBC.com)

I really hope they had him on meds. I'll never judge anybody for their religious beliefs, but after the whole Tom Cruise vs. Brooke Shields and Matt Lauer debacle, Scientology is going to take a huge PR beating if it was preventable using medication, and it turns out that he wasn't on anything. Keep your fingers crossed...

I think that John Travolta is an overall great guy (much more so than fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise), and have no desire to blame anything on what he did or didn't do on the creepy teachings of L. Ron's Hubbard. But Scientology is regularly taking PR beatings down here -- the international headquarters are in Clearwater -- and IMO they 100 percent deserve it from an organizational standpoint.

I do hope for the family's sake that they won't have anything to look back on with regret. Nobody deserves such a tragedy.