Medical authorities have reported that a 13-year-old boy who became a star on his family's popular YouTube show died last month from a heart disease that often causes cardiac arrest in young people. The Maryland teenager starred on the video-sharing service's online series that documented the family's day-to-day life for nearly five years. It had earned over one billion views, 1.7 million YouTube subscribers, and a huge following on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
An official medical examiner in Baltimore reported that Caleb LeBlanc passed away on October 1 from the condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It is a heart disease that results in a thickened heart muscle.
Caleb and his family had starred in the "Bratayleys" online series since December 2010. The show has a loyal fan base.
On November 10, Tuesday, the LeBlanc family made an Instagram post revealing that regular checkups had not detected the boy's heart condition, according to WJLA. In addition, his two sisters do not have the condition.
Before the medical report, Caleb's death had been an unsolved mystery. Arundel News Net had reported that nothing was suspicious about his death, the family had mentioned "natural causes" in an Instagram post, and first responders observed that Caleb had suffered an "unknown medical emergency," according to The Washington Post.
The difficulty of detecting the heart condition left the family in abeyance for over one week. They wondered in an Instagram post how it could happen to a healthy boy.
The American Heart Association (AHA) reports that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects one in 500 people. It has opposed routine screening.
Here are some video clips from "Bratayleys":