Jett Travolta had a developmental disability that his parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, have linked to Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory disorder of the artery walls that most commonly occurs in young children and can lead to heart disease.
In 2001, John Travolta told CNN's Larry King that his son had a near brush with death related to the condition.
"I was obsessive about cleaning -- his space being clean, so we constantly had the carpets cleaned. And I think, between him, the fumes and walking around, maybe picking up pieces or something, he got what is rarely a thing to deal with, but it's Kawasaki syndrome," Travolta said of his then-2-year-old son.
"It was that the immune system overreacts, because they have almost the equivalent of metallic chemical," Travolta said.
According to the American Heart Association, "About 80 percent of the people with Kawasaki disease are under age 5. Children over age 8 are rarely affected."
The causes of Kawasaki disease are unknown. Some scientists think it's caused by an infectious agent, such as a virus. Some studies have noted a link between the disease and carpet cleaning chemicals.
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