Parents Of Cameron Boyce Release PSA In His Honor to Raise Awareness of Epilepsy
Its been four months since the sudden passing of Cameron Boyce who is well known for his role as Carlos in the Descendants franchise as ell as Disney Channel television series Jessie.
Since his passing Boyce’s friends and family are on a mission to make sure that the actor’s legacy lives on via the Cameron Boyce Foundation and also saves lives.
As we reported earlier this year, Boyce died suddenly at the age of 20 after suffering a seizure in his sleep due to epilepsy. The foundation created in his honor has teamed up with the Epilepsy Foundation’s SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) Institute to raise awareness about the disease.
In this powerful PSA, Cameron’s parents Libby and Victor Boyce along with other family and friends come together to shine a light on the risks of SUDEP. You can check out the video below.
“Cameron Boyce, our son, my best friend, the best thing that ever happened to me, our sunshine,” they tell the camera. “We had no idea SUDEP could take Cameron from us.”
While SUDEP is rare, epilepsy is not. One in 26 people will develop the disease at some point during our lifetime. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, epilepsy affects about 3.4 million people in the U.S. alone and around 1,000 in the U.S. die from SUDEP every year.
Boyce’s parents recently did an interview for Good Morning America where they talked about their hope that they can raise awareness about epilepsy and thus fund more research into the disease. “We don’t want anybody to lose their child to anything,” Victor said. “Because this feeling, it’s just the worst.”
“Every time you think about it, it’s just a knife — it’s a hole and a knife in your heart,” Libby added.
Still, they are hopeful that their loss can help prevent other families from going through a similar experience, Libby said, “We’ve heard from doctors throughout the country that people are coming in and asking about epilepsy because of Cameron. So that makes us feel good, that maybe everything is not in vain, that maybe people are going to learn more about their disease.”
Following his death, his family started the Cameron Boyce Foundation to honor his legacy. According to the foundation’s website, it “provides young people artistic and creative outlets as alternatives to violence and negativity and uses resources and philanthropy for positive change in the world.”