From his last supper to the very last time he was in his mom and dad’s
arms – Cameron Boyce’s final hours were his parent’s favorite memory.
The night before he died, Cameron Boyce posted on social media. He shared a black
and white portrait of himself on Instagram. In it he sported a serious facial expression and
a sports headband which was tied at the back. However, the Disney Channel star didn't caption
the photo, other than to tag the British pop culture media outlet and fashion brand i-D.
Posting updates on his Instagram page was something Boyce did regularly,
as he liked to stay connected with his fans and share behind-the-scenes snaps
from his acting jobs, as well as use the platform to talk about social issues.
However, Inquisitr hailed it as a fitting final photo to have been posted by the actor,
since it captured both the serious and playful sides of his personality.
The latter shone through in Boyce's role as Carlos, the son of Cruella,
in Disney's "Descendants" film franchise. The last live-action installment of the series,
"Descendants 3" was released on August 2, 2019, just weeks after Boyce's death.
Cameron Boyce's parents, Victor and Libby Boyce, spent the evening of Friday July 5,
2019, with their son. Victor Boyce revealed to ABC News,
"The night he passed away we were out to dinner with him, just hours before."
The trio enjoyed some quality family time together, and Victor Boyce said
that night is his favorite memory with his son, explaining to ABC News,
"He came to visit, and I was just so happy to see him and gave him
a big hug [...] It was just cool that, here's my 20-year-old son,
just drove up in his car from his house and he's coming to visit me."
Victor Boyce also noted that he had been so excited to see his son living independently as
a young adult, and he imagined that this was what their relationship would be like in the future.
Less than a week after the actor died, his father shared a photo of him from that dinner,
which is the last photo he has of his son. Alongside the picture he posted on Instagram,
Victor Boyce expressed his devastation but also thanked everyone for their love and support.
After dinner, actor Cameron Boyce went back to his own new house,
but he continued talking with his parents well into the night. Victor Byoce told ABC News,
"We were texting that night. We were texting about the Lakers.
We were texting back and forth up until 12:30."
"Somewhere between the last text he sent me and the morning he was
gone. It's not cliche to say you never know."
"You never know."
The couple couldn't have known that anything was wrong after they had stopped texting with Cameron,
naturally assuming he'd gone to sleep. However, he died after
having a seizure in his sleep during the early hours of Saturday morning, July 6.
During the day on July 6, 2019, Cameron Boyce's roommates decided to go check on him before they
left the house for the day, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's report. When
they entered his room they found him unresponsive, and they immediately dialed 9-1-1 and began CPR.
They continued trying to resuscitate him until the emergency services arrived at his North Hollywood
home. Sadly, there was nothing they could do, and paramedics declared Boyce dead at 2:35 p.m.
Later that day, his father Victor Boyce publicly confirmed the 20-year-old actor's death,
but did not initially reveal that it was because of epilepsy. Via People, the statement read,
"He passed away in his sleep due to a seizure, which was a result of an ongoing medical condition
for which he was being treated. The world is now undoubtedly without one of its brightest lights,
but his spirit will live on through the kindness and compassion of all who knew and loved him."
Cameron Boyce's autopsy report confirmed that the medication he'd been taking,
which was called Levetiracetam, was in his system when he died. After his death,
his parents Victor and Libby Boyce went into more detail about the
treatment Cameron had been receiving. It included more than just medication.
"We also had this thing where they wired his head up and had
this contraption on to try and capture brain activity. Nothing ever showed."
He continued, explaining that his son received several different types of treatment to determine
the cause of his seizures. The dad of two added that his son had seizures only while he was
asleep, and Cameron did not remember the seizures afterward. The actor had a total of five seizures,
his mother revealed, and he would often bite his lip or his tongue while seizing.
"And obviously, if I ever thought he could die from a seizure,
I would've never let him out of my sight, which would've been awful for him."
Throughout his life, Cameron Boyce committed to a platform of activism
wherever he could. When he accepted the Thirst Project's Pioneering Spirit award,
the actor addressed the audience with words of encouragement and action. He said,
"What you leave should be bigger than you. We need to use what we have and
make the world a better place for other people."
This attitude is something that his parents, family, friends,
and co-stars really admired about him, and through them, Cameron Boyce's legacy
as an activist will live on. After he died, his parents set up a charity — The Cameron
Boyce Foundation — in his honor. His mom Libby Boyce later explained to ABC News,
"The Cameron Boyce Foundation will do a lot of things for epilepsy,
for ending gun violence, for the water crisis."