‘I couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose because the water was switched off by Las Virgenes Municipal Water’. The mother of Rory Sykes, 32, a British-born former child actor who died tragically in the Los Angeles wildfires, has recounted the moment her son “took his first step” after watching Tom Hanks in Forest Gump.
Speaking with Australia’s Channel Nine Sunday, Shelley Sykes said she endured a desperate battle to keep her son alive during his early years as he battled complex needs tied with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. Rory, a former Australian TV series Kiddy Kapers child star, “started having surgery as a baby”, she said.
“He had nine surgeries to straighten his legs, [and] straighten his eyes, and he used to watch ‘Forrest Gump’ all the time when he was 4. “He got the all-clear in his eyes at 8, but he took his first step[s] after watching ‘Forrest Gump’ 400 times”, she said.
Despite facing these challenges along with being born blind, Rory managed to live “an extraordinary life” she said. “I couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose because the water was switched off by Las Virgenes Municipal Water. “Even the 50 brave firefighters had no water all day!”, she wrote on X Thursday.
Last Wednesday, three 1 million gallon, high-elevation water tanks that supplied the hard-hit Pacific Palisades ran dry after high demand drained and lowered the pressure within the overall hydrant system – shortages that prompted an independent investigation Friday.
