8-Year-Old Girl Who Survived Fiery SUV Crash Has Died

Just over a month ago, a woman burned to death after her SUV caught fire.

Karla Cerino used her dying breath to save her two children, handing them to complete strangers. But the Cerino family has been hit with another tragic loss.

Eight-year-old Priscilla Chavez had to cope with losing her mom. For several weeks, she went through skin transplants and had to learn how to walk again.

Wednesday afternoon she died at the Lubbock burn center after doctors found a puncture in her intestine.

“Friday she started getting a high temperature. They opened her stomach and one of her intestines had a hole.” Arlet Cerino, Priscilla’s aunt explains. “Her heart was weak, everyday and today it just happened, her heart just stopped.”

Priscilla’s room had a fresh coat of paint ready for her to enjoy when she got back home.

“We were talking to her and she was like, ‘Oh I promise you, I’m going to come back,'” Arlet said.

But that day will never come. Priscilla’s aunt says her family is devastated. The 8-year-old’s death was completely unexpected, like losing Karla all over again.

“My sister actually passed away on a Wednesday kind of five (minutes) til 4 – about the same time my little niece passed away,” Arlet said.

Arlet says Priscilla told their family she was sleeping when the crash happened and her mom’s SUV burst into flames.

Just like Karla, the family considers Priscilla a hero, as well. She woke up and helped her mom get her two-year-old brother to safety.

When asked where his mom is Edgar replies, “al cielo,” in heaven. The toddler’s mom and now his sister watching over him and the rest of the family from heaven.

“There’s always this pain that you feel and you just can’t believe it,” Arlet explained as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I can’t believe it all this is happening. I just want to wake up one day and know that all of this it’s just a dream a bad dream.”

Family members say Priscilla wanted to be a police officer or firefighter and save people the same way they saved her.

The Cerino family has an account set up for Priscilla. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo bank, acct # 2986832786.