Rory Sykes, who appeared on TV shows as a child and later became a motivational speaker about living with a disability, has died in devastating circumstances. Los Angeles forest firesaccording to his mother, Shelley Sykes. He was 32 years old.
Shelley common on X (formerly Twitter) that Rory, born blind and suffering from cerebral palsy, died at the family home in Malibu Wednesday.
“It is with great sadness that I must announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes in the Malibu fires yesterday. I am heartbroken,” Shelley wrote Thursday. “He overcame so much through surgeries and therapies to regain his sight and be able to learn to walk. Despite the pain, he was still enthusiastic about traveling the world with me, from Africa to Antarctica. … He will be incredibly missed.
Born on July 29, 1992 in the United Kingdom, Rory moved to Australia as a child, where he attended school. He moved to the United States more recently, according to an Australian media outlet 9 News reported.
Shelley said her son was residing in a cabin on the 17-acre “Mount Malibu TV Studio family estate” when he died. She also told Australian media 10 News First that firefighters declared her son died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
“I couldn’t put the ashes out of his roof with a garden hose because the water was off. … Even the 50 brave firefighters had no water all day,” she shared in her post on X. (The Associated Press reported that authorities said some Los Angeles fire hydrants were dry and experiencing low pressure due to high demand.)
As a child, Rory made appearances on the British television show Kiddy Kapers in 1998 and in the Australian television show Mornings with Kerri-Anne in 2003. According to Rory websitehe has also been a philanthropist and professional speaker and consultant for companies such as the Tony Robbins Foundation and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. His mother said he also co-founded Happy Charity and was an avid RuneScape player.
Since Tuesday, when the first forest fire broke out In Pacific Palisades Before spreading to parts of Malibu and Santa Monica overnight, Los Angeles first responders worked around the clock to contain active wildfires breaking out across the county, including in Eaton, Hurst and Kenneth fires. THE the number of deaths has also increased to 11 people, the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office announced Friday. (It is unclear whether Rory is included in the current death toll.)
As of Saturday afternoon, the Kenneth Fire was 80% contained; THE Palisades fire near the coast, 11 percent were confined; and the Eaton fire was 15 percent contained. The Hurst Fire, south of Santa Clarita, was 77 percent contained.
