One of the people who tragically lost their lives in the raging Los Angeles fires is former child star Rory Callum Sykes.
According to his devastated mother, Rory, known for his appearance on the TV programme Kiddy Kapers in the 1990s, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the cottage where he lived located on the estate of his family’s Malibu estate.
Rory was born with cerebral palsy. At the time of his passing, he was 32 years of age.
His mother, Shelley tried to put out the flames on her son’s cottage, but failed due to shortage of water. She tried calling the emergency services but couldn’t connect to get help. “He died needlessly,” she told Australian outlet 10 News First. “He said ‘Mom, leave me,’ and no mom can leave their kid.”
Sadly, Shelley was unable to lift or move her son.
So she ran to get help, and sadly, when she and the firefighters returned, the cottage was burnt to the ground.
The child star, who was born in Australia and only moved to the US just recently, went through so much in his life. He had undergone plenty of surgeries in order to be able to learn to walk and to regain his sight. Despite his pain, he wished he traveled the world.
In her post, his mother wrote, “British born Australian living in America, a wonderful son, a gift born on mine & his grandmas birthday 29 July, 92.”
She concluded her post, “He will be incredibly missed.”
“I couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose because the water was switched off,” Shelley explained on social media. “Even the 50 brave firefighters had no water all day.”
Sadly, Rory is at least one of 11 deaths linked to the wildfires.
It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday. I’m totally heart broken. British born Australian living in America, a wonderful son, a gift born on mine & his grandmas birthday 29 July 92, Rory Callum… pic.twitter.com/X77xyk83gx
— Shelley Sykes (@shelleysykes) January 9, 2025
Besides being a child star, Rory was also a “sought after motivational speaker” at the age of eight.
Recently, he and his mom had founded Happy Charity.
We are so very sorry for the loss of Rory.
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Bored Daddy
Love and Peace