John says Jett was autistic

[freckles and boo]

Then why all these years has Kelly saying he was the way he was from all the carpet cleaning chemicals they used? She gave it another name. Not autistic. Did she & John not agree with what was wrong with Jett?

She is a very fervent Scientologist. Autism would be considered a mental defect. That is a problem for Scientology, which claims to be able to cure whatever ails you, especially if it is mental. Better to blame a physical illness than to admit that you can't fix your child.

 

[spacemountain]

Here's an article saying that John had always denied that his son had autism. So this was the first time that he publicly admitted it.

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/jett-travolta-victim-autism-kawasaki-or-scientology

 

[Snoopymom]

Was his child taking ANY medication?

No. They said that he was on one, but they were afraid of the side effects, so they stopped it. There was nothing mentioned about trying the 12 other types of meds available for children or the various combinations, or the Ketogenic Diet, or VNS, or surgery...don't get me started.

A lot of the meds used to treat seizures are also used to treat psychological problems which they are against.

 

[Sailorwife]

My son had Kawasaki disease when he was 2 1/2. We are not Asian but it does strike mainly in Asian males. We did have our carpets cleaned about a month before he got sick. That was one of the first questions we were asked when we took him to the ER. It is such a rare disease that all the med students were brought to my son's room to see him because for some that would be the only case they ever saw. It is a autoimmune disease where your red blood cells start attacking your own body. He was a very sick boy and we were very scared because we knew something was really wrong! He was in the small percentage that relapsed but after 4 IVIG treatments and 2 weeks in the hospital he was on the way to a full recovery. He still has a ulcer from all the asprin therepy and was anemic for about a year after but now is a 6'2 healthly teenager.

We are in a study that will follow him to adulthood because they do not have alot of info on the long term effects. If not diagnosed in a timely matter, it can cause heart problems. There are several kids in the study that lost arms to aneurysms. My son did have several echocardiograms but we were blessed with no heart problems. It really is a scary disease!

 

[NotUrsula]

Then why all these years has Kelly saying he was the way he was from all the carpet cleaning chemicals they used? She gave it another name. Not autistic. Did she & John not agree with what was wrong with Jett?

Kawasaki Syndrome. He apparently did have it as a child, but her contention was that his issues were purely side-effects from it, which most experts said did not make sense.

http://www.cdc.gov/kawasaki/

 

[Imzadi]

She is a very fervent Scientologist. Autism would be considered a mental defect. That is a problem for Scientology, which claims to be able to cure whatever ails you, especially if it is mental. Better to blame a physical illness than to admit that you can't fix your child.

No. They said that he was on one, but they were afraid of the side effects, so they stopped it. There was nothing mentioned about trying the 12 other types of meds available for children or the various combinations, or the Ketogenic Diet, or VNS, or surgery...don't get me started.

A lot of the meds used to treat seizures are also used to treat psychological problems which they are against.

That news article said, "During his testimony Wednesday morning, Travolta said Jett suffered from seizures every five to 10 days. The seizures would last 45 seconds to one minute, he said."

How sad. I wonder if the Travoltas are feeling immense guilt that their possible (lack of) treatment or their philosophical/religious beliefs may have contributed or caused Jett's death. I think most parents always wonder if they could have done something else or more. But, here was possibly a real situation where they could have done more with what treatments and procedures are available. What a sad, sad burden to bear.

 

[Snoopymom]

That news article said, "During his testimony Wednesday morning, Travolta said Jett suffered from seizures every five to 10 days. The seizures would last 45 seconds to one minute, he said."

How sad. I wonder if the Travoltas are feeling immense guilt that their possible (lack of) treatment or their philosophical/religious beliefs may have contributed or caused Jett's death. I think most parents always wonder if they could have done something else or more. But, here was possibly a real situation where they could have done more with what treatments and procedures are available. What a sad, sad burden to bear.

We had and still have extreme trepidation with giving ds meds, just as any parent would, but it was explained to us that seizures can kind of create a familiar path in the brain causing them to become more frequent and severe if not treated. I can't believe there is a neurologist alive who would have recommended to stop treating the seizures.

 

[bookgirl]

Then why all these years has Kelly saying he was the way he was from all the carpet cleaning chemicals they used? She gave it another name. Not autistic. Did she & John not agree with what was wrong with Jett?

He actually did have a reaction to cleaning chemicals and a illness, but the condition it causes is a short term affect (Kawasaki disease). They had always talked about him having long term effects. They may even have actually thought that that sydrome is what brought on the onset of the autism symptoms. Like some parents belive that innoculations do or diet. There are reports from other actors of Jett talking and interacting normally with others as a toddler, then he had this illness then nothing after that. So who knows. But no one can acuse them of not loving that child or caring for him. From all reports they were a loving family that centered around being together and thier children. And it was reported that Jett was on medication for the seizures (nothing in scientology forbids mediciene for a diagnosed physical disease), it was just the autism (considered a mental/cognitive disorder) that scientology did not acknowledge.

I think they just needed a coping mechanism and scientology or giving his problems another name helped them. Now that he is gone, they may have come to terms with it and no longer want the crutch that they were using. If that's what it was.

 

[robinb]

Very sad for the family.


I can only pray that the child did have the care that was available to autistic children...despite the parents "belief" in Scientology. To think otherwise is horrifying!

"Horrifying"? That's a little over the top. I think you are letting your dislike for Scientology get in the way of the facts. He was not locked up in an institution. He was loved and cared for by his parents and his brother. That is more than a lot of children have, disabled or not. In addition, even people who had autistic kids cannot agree with what is the best care and treatment for autism. Some believe in diet, some believe in drugs some believe in therapy, etc. There is no ONE way to care for autistic kids and who are we to say that the Travoltas cared for their child in a "horrifying" way?

 

[Aisling]

He always said that his son wasn't austic because they don't believe in that in scientology. Why is he now admiting to it?? Thats wierd.

Scientologists believe that any kind of mental or disability, ESPECIALLY if born with it, has the label of "defective person" attached to it. When Scientology methods can't "clear" the afflicted person, it means the person is basically a waste.

I believe the Travoltas were conflicted between their belief in Scientology and their love for their son, not being able to bear thinking of him as a defective body-host to the Thetan being(s) being hosted in the body. So Autism was out. Now that Jett is gone, I truly believe they'll reject the Church of Scientology. Otherwise, they have to live with their Scientology belief that Jett's Thetan(s) deemed his body unworthy and left it, causing Jett to die.

 

[Boxley]

Maybe they just didn't want to turn Jett into a celebrity poster child for autism, so they kept the diagnosis under wraps.

I agree on that, but I feel that the Travoltas didn't owe anyone an explanation about their son. It is their family business about their son's autism.

 

[Acklander]

I agree on that, but I feel that the Travoltas didn't owe anyone an explanation about their son. It is their family business about their son's autism.

I agree with this. He's not required to speak out publicly to anyone about his children. With celebrities it seems to be a damned if you do, damned if you don't, on coming out publicly about issues in your family. See the McKenzie Phillips thread where she made the choice to publicly comment on personal family business - people are faulting her for that and harshly questioning her motives. The Travolta's made the choice to not publicly speak out about it and people are questioning their motives.

 

[Snoopymom]

Scientologists believe that any kind of mental or disability, ESPECIALLY if born with it, has the label of "defective person" attached to it. When Scientology methods can't "clear" the afflicted person, it means the person is basically a waste.

I believe the Travoltas were conflicted between their belief in Scientology and their love for their son, not being able to bear thinking of him as a defective body-host to the Thetan being(s) being hosted in the body. So Autism was out. Now that Jett is gone, I truly believe they'll reject the Church of Scientology. Otherwise, they have to live with their Scientology belief that Jett's Thetan(s) deemed his body unworthy and left it, causing Jett to die.

Is this really what they believe?

I can't be the only parent who feels so....I don't know, can't even come up with a word, sad, frustrated, appalled?.... DS doesn't have autism so I can't fully relate, but for his seizures I would have given everything and anything to have the resources they have to have been able to get the MRI and EEG done instantly, fly to wherever the best pediatric neurologist in the world was, etc. and they just say, oops, oh well, "defective person"?

If I had not followed through with the doctor's treatment for ds's seizures after he was diagnosed with Epilepsy, I'm absolutely positive someone, his doctor, his teacher, my own parents, would have called Children's Services on me. Why are they different?

 

[Aisling]

Is this really what they believe?

holysmoke.org

BODY THETANS If you are a Scientologist reading this then you will have heard of "thetans". "Thetans" are you and me that animate a body. But have you heard of "body thetans"? This is the big secret on the OT levels and a very silly secret at that. You may have heard the idea that going Clear is going Clear only on the First Dynamic and that in doing the OT levels you go Clear on the Third Dynamic. I bet you have heard this from one of the travelling Registrars from Flag. Well, the Third Dynamic is about groups, right? But what group are they talking about? I will tell you.

It is these "body thetans". On OT III you will be told that you are full of "body thetans" - degraded thetans who were once people but are now clustered together along with you and inhabit your body along with you.

You and I are supposed to be the leader thetan of these body thetans.

The story you are told of how this came about is about the worst piece of science-fiction ever dreamed up. 75 million years ago there was supposedly a ruler of this part of the galaxy named Xenu. To cure overpopulation on all the planets he controlled, the story goes he had most of the people on all the planets called in for an income tax audit when they were instead paralysed by injection of an alcohol and glycol mixture into their lungs and then they were packed up in refridgerated units and loaded onto DC-8 identical space-craft and taken to Earth (called Teegeeack then) and packed around the bases of a few volcanos.

Then they were all nuked together. After this the thetans who were flying around in the winds were caught in electronic beams and frozen toghether in blocks. Then they were taken to huge 3-D cinemas and shown folms of what life should be like on Earth. After that they supposedly clustered together with a lead thetan in chanrge and they ended up inhabiting bodies in these clusters. Hence although we are a single thetan we supposedly have about 2,500 other lesser "body thetans" attached to our own thetan self.

 

[lovin diz]

Is this really what they believe?

I can't be the only parent who feels so....I don't know, can't even come up with a word, sad, frustrated, appalled?.... DS doesn't have autism so I can't fully relate, but for his seizures I would have given everything and anything to have the resources they have to have been able to get the MRI and EEG done instantly, fly to wherever the best pediatric neurologist in the world was, etc. and they just say, oops, oh well, "defective person"?

If I had not followed through with the doctor's treatment for ds's seizures after he was diagnosed with Epilepsy, I'm absolutely positive someone, his doctor, his teacher, my own parents, would have called Children's Services on me. Why are they different?

I totally agree 100%

I have epilepsy, and have had it since i was about 13 yrs old. I still have bouts with it. THey have turned into grandmaw seizures. The dr told me the other day...We have to find a medicine to control them...I could have brain damage if i continue to have the seizures. The dr's had to have warned them of the consequences of not taking meds.

It reminds me of the mother who didnt want her son to take chemo, b/c god was going to heal him....They went after her...Why is John travolta so different from her?? b/c he is a celebrity?? (dont get me wrong...I love his movies, he is a great actor, but come on)

 

[RitaE]

It reminds me of the mother who didnt want her son to take chemo, b/c god was going to heal him....They went after her...Why is John travolta so different from her?? b/c he is a celebrity?? (dont get me wrong...I love his movies, he is a great actor, but come on)

In the case of the Mother with the son and chemo treatments, there were medical professionals who were familiar with that particular case history of the patient and the family and felt the lack of treatment the family was insisting on was so severe and neglectful that they were willing to go into court and offer solid proof.

In the case of the Travolta family, there is no Physician or other professional that I am aware of that have made any sort of claim of neglect against the Travoltas. There are simply a bunch of people and/or Media types who say "Well THIS must be what happened....." when in fact that they personally probably couldn't have picked that boy out of a crowd if they met them at the mall and they have absolutely no idea what type of care or treatment he was or was not receiving.

 

[Tomader]

Bad choices are made by everyone.This includes famous people and people with lots of money. As a society we tend to excuse their behavior because we think with their kind of money they should know better. This is far from the truth. Tom Cruise and the rest of them should get a reality check. They let religion make choices they should have been making for their son. I feel very bad for the family. I could not imagine the pain I would feel if I lost one of my children. I'm not famous and I don't have lots of money. What I do have is common sense. I put my child above all else. I do what I think is best for them. I don't allow a religion to take away mine or my childs right to life. I don't know the Travolta's so I speak from what I have seen and read. I hope they did try everything to help their son.

 

[Aisling]

I don't allow a religion to take away mine or my childs right to life. I don't know the Travolta's so I speak from what I have seen and read. I hope they did try everything to help their son.

I know what you're saying. The thing is, when people really REALLY believe that what their religion says is true, they feel that they'll be doing more harm than good for the child's soul. Reminds me of a religious group that doesn't believe in blood transfusions...before there were medical ways around that, some of these people would let their loved ones die before allowing a blood transfusion. They honestly with all their hearts believed it would be detrimental to them in the eyes of God.

That's why I try not to judge people who behave based on their spiritual beliefs, because to them, their soul, or their child's soul is in jeopardy if they don't follow the tenets.

I just know that if John is finally acknowledging that Jett was Autistic, he must be going through an intense spiritual turmoil right now in addition to the heartbreaking grief. Very very sad.

 

[kellyg403]

I know what you're saying. The thing is, when people really REALLY believe that what their religion says is true, they feel that they'll be doing more harm than good for the child's soul. Reminds me of a religious group that doesn't believe in blood transfusions...before there were medical ways around that, some of these people would let their loved ones die before allowing a blood transfusion. They honestly with all their hearts believed it would be detrimental to them in the eyes of God.

That's why I try not to judge people who behave based on their spiritual beliefs, because to them, their soul, or their child's soul is in jeopardy if they don't follow the tenets.

I just know that if John is finally acknowledging that Jett was Autistic, he must be going through an intense spiritual turmoil right now in addition to the heartbreaking grief. Very very sad.

I agree...What they are going through with the loss of their son is huge. When my dd died the only source of comfort I had was my religion. To not even be sure of that anymore must make their tragedy even worse.

I feel so badly for them. Very very badly.

Kelly

 

[Imzadi]

Scientologists believe that any kind of mental or disability, ESPECIALLY if born with it, has the label of "defective person" attached to it. When Scientology methods can't "clear" the afflicted person, it means the person is basically a waste.

I don't allow a religion to take away mine or my childs right to life. I don't know the Travolta's so I speak from what I have seen and read. I hope they did try everything to help their son.

I know what you're saying. The thing is, when people really REALLY believe that what their religion says is true, they feel that they'll be doing more harm than good for the child's soul... They honestly with all their hearts believed it would be detrimental to them in the eyes of God.

Not to turn this into a political/religious discussion (so this is used only as an example and then let's stay off of it,) when all the stem cell controversy came about, especially in CA, where Gov. Schwarzenegger was for it, Mel Gibson was vehemently and very vocally opposed to it. He even said that even if stem cell research could help some disease one of his children might get, he'd still be opposed it it because of the way (some) stem cells are harvested from unborn (aborted) embryoes. He stood by his Catholic beliefs even if they were at odds to saving one of his children.