Former Child Star Born With Disabilities Passes Away In California Fires

Former Australian child star Rory Sykes passed away Wednesday in the Southern California fires.

Sykes, 32, was born blind and had cerebral palsy.

Shelley Sykes, his mother, was unable to save him from their home.

“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,” Sykes said.

“@rorysykes was born blind with cerebral palsy & had difficulty walking. He overcame so much with surgeries & therapies to regain his sight & to be able to learn to walk,” she added.

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

Per NBC News:

Rory Sykes, 32, had difficulty walking because of the cerebral palsy, his mother said. The actor, who starred in the late-’90s British TV show “Kiddy Kapers,” was living in a cottage on his family’s 17-acre Malibu estate.

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Shelley Sykes said it burned down Wednesday in the Palisades Fire when she “couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose because the water was switched off by @LVMWD Las Virgenes Municipal Water.”

“Even the 50 brave fire fighters had no water all day! He will be incredibly missed,” she posted.

A spokesperson for Las Virgenes Municipal Water denied her claims, saying the “water service did remain available and uninterrupted to her property and the entire surrounding community.”

“Our water system remained operational and we did provide water to the firefighters throughout the emergency and without interruption,” the spokesperson said.

The Palisades Fire broke out on Tuesday and has since expanded to more than 22,000 acres, destroying approximately 5,000 structures.

Sykes told Australian outlet 10 News First that her son said, ‘Mom, leave me.’

“And no mom could leave their kid,” she said.

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From The Guardian:

In an interview with Channel Nine on Sunday, Shelley Sykes said her son fell ill with the heat of the fires.

“Rory’s feet with the heat had started to swell, and he couldn’t walk very well. And he also had problems with his tummy. So he didn’t want to be far away from the bathroom,” Shelley Sykes said.

“So he said, ‘Mum, you go, I’m staying’. Well, there’s no way I could leave.

“So I stayed in the main property with my two peacocks in a bathroom because it was hard to breathe. Sitting on the floor with bottled water and trying to keep wet.”

Sykes said she saw embers flying onto the roof of her son’s cottage, but her efforts to extinguish them failed because there was no water coming from her hose.

Shelley Sykes said she drove several hundred metres to the nearby fire station to raise the alarm but was told there were no water reserves in local fire hydrants.

“[The firefighters] said ‘What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be here’. And I said ‘Please help Rory. His cottage has got flames on it and I’ve got no water’.

“They said ‘Shelley, we’ve got no water either’.”

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Firefighters drove Sykes back to their property only to discover her son’s cottage had burned to the ground, she said. There was “nothing we could do”.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

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