Former child star Rory Sykes, who appeared in the British 1990s show “Kiddy Kapers” and lived with cerebral palsy, died in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires Wednesday. He was 32.
“It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes
to the Malibu fires yesterday,” his mother, Shelley Sykes, revealed on social media Thursday. “I’m totally heart broken [sic].”
Shelley, who hosted “Kiddy Kapers,” said he died in his cottage on the family’s 17-acre Malibu estate after she “couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose” because the water was shut off by Las Virgenes Municipal Water.
She also told Australia’s 10 News First that she was unable to remove Rory — who had difficulty walking due to his condition — from his burning home because her arm was broken.
“He said, ‘Mom, leave me,’” she tearfully recalled. “No mom can leave their kid.”
Shelley rushed to her local firehouse after failing to reach 9-1-1, but by the time she returned with help, it was too late. Firefighters told her Rory died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Rory was a British-born Australian living in America and a “wonderful son,” Shelley tweeted in his emotional death announcement.
“He overcame so much with surgeries & therapies to regain his sight & to be able to learn to walk,” she proudly noted. “Despite the pain, he still enthused about traveling the world with me from Africa to Antarctica.”
Rory founded the organization Happy Charity to help others in need and was an inspirational speaker by the age of 8, according to his mom.
She said he will be “incredibly missed.”
The Pacific Palisades Fire was the first to erupt in Los Angeles.
It began Tuesday and has consumed over 21,000 acres and more than 5,000 structures between the Palisades and Malibu.
As of Saturday morning, the fire was 11% contained, according to the Los Angeles Times.
It is currently threatening homes in the Brentwood area, which was previously unaffected.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner announced Friday that 11 deaths have been recorded across the several blazes burning up LA. Rory was not accounted for in that number.
