21-year-old Skye McCole Bartusiak who starred opposite Mel Gibson in the film The Patriot was found dead in her Texas home on Saturday.
The actress was found in her bed by her boyfriend in the garage apartment she lived in next to her parent’s home, MTV News
reports. According to TMZ, McCole had been suffering from seizures since she was a baby and it is believed that an epileptic seizure could have likely caused her death.
"We lost our girl," the actress’ mother, Helen McCole Bartusiak told CNN. “She was a kind and really beautiful girl."
According to MTV, although the investigation is ongoing, Bartusiak had been struggling with epileptic attacks for a while and it wasn’t the first time CPR needed to be performed on the actress. Epilepsy can occur at any time and can be fatal if the air passageway becomes blocked, which is what her mother believes happened to her daughter.
Her mother reportedly began to perform CPR before paramedics arrived, but unfortunately was not able to revive her. She spent Sunday looking through pictures of her daughter to use for her funeral. “The girl has lived such an amazing life,” her mother said.
Image courtesy of INFphoto.com