- September 18, 2024
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June 6 at 6:49 p.m. is a date and time that will haunt the Avera family for the rest of their lives.
It was at this moment Kayden Avera, 14, had her life taken in a tragic accident from parents Travis and Christine Avera and 12-year-old brother Camdyn Avera.
The young Windermere High School student died after a tree fell onto the roof of a 2011 Lexus in which she was riding on Reams Road, south of Summerlake Boulevard.
Kayden was riding in the rear right passenger seat of the car with her mother and brother, who were not injured.
Kayden was transported to Orlando Health — Horizon West Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The West Orange County community and beyond grieves the unexpected death of Kayden. Her close friends and family remember her as “special,” “kind,” “sweet,” “selfless,” and someone who “brought the best out of anyone and anything.”
To know Kayden was to know love.
“So many of the notes that I am receiving from Kayden’s friends tell me about how, in their lowest times or hardest days, Kayden was the one that got them through it,” Christine Avera said. “She came to this earth to be a helper, and now she is our angel. … I will honor her memory by living each day remembering the joy and love that Kayden brought to every moment, by taking care of each other the way Kayden took care of all those she loved, and by always being kind. ‘Friendship is always the answer,’ as Kayden lived by or would say. ‘Be kind to everyone.’”
‘TO KNOW KAYDEN IS TO LOVE KAYDEN’
Kayden was born June 25, 2009, at the Mayport Naval Base hospital in Jacksonville.
She attended local schools Sunset Park and Bay Lake elementaries, Horizon West Middle, and Windermere High.
Kayden’s father was her first love.
“She was totally a daddy’s girl and loved riding in the back seat of the truck with her favorite music blaring on the stereo system,” Christine Avera said. “She’d holler ‘Turn it up,’ and on she rode with a look of peace and happiness.”
Kayden was certain her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. Together, they had many girlie adventures and enjoyed dressing alike and doing their nails. They also shared a love for creativity and art.
Painting and drawing consumed a large portion of Kayden’s preschool years, and her family said her talent was amazing. She excelled at creating drawings, including tattoo designs in her more recent years.
Shortly before Kayden’s second birthday, her brother was born.
The bond between the two was unusually close.
“Kayden and Camdyn immediately became best friends, and that continued throughout their time together on this earth,” Christine Avera said. “Kayden was the best big sister ever, and she and Camdyn had endless adventures together. He is two years younger than her, and she has always looked out for him.”
Kayden participated in several sports throughout her years, including soccer, gymnastics, taekwondo and, her latest passion, boxing.
Kayden loved the beach, the moon, the stars, sunsets, coffee, cake pops, Crumbl Cookies, her family and friends, fancy nails, makeup, the colors pink and red, music, and tattoos.
Kayden’s best friend, who she called a sister, was Ava Desjarlais.
“She called me, and we were talking about what we were going to do when she came over later,” Ava said of that terrible day. “I regret hanging up to go watch a show. I wish I had stayed on the phone and talked to her for just a little longer. I am beyond grateful to have had the chance to call Kayden my best friend. I will continue to be her friend in death by honoring her in everything I do. The value of our friendship is beyond measure. I’d do anything to have her back for just one more moment.
“The love we share will forever be unbreakable, and I thank her for that,” she said. “She is who shaped me into the person I am today. Kayden and I shared four years worth of memories, and I’ll forever cherish them. We did everything together — from painting pictures, to watching shows, to listening to Bruno Mars, to staying up until sunrise laughing. She was there for me through thick and thin, because that’s just the selfless person Kayden once was. Throughout this long and hard journey without Kayden, we were all taught to live without fear, to welcome life’s uncertainties with open arms and to find happiness within the process. To know Kayden is to love Kayden, and I will never stop loving her.”
Friend Adeline Spears met Kayden through Ava.
“I will forever be grateful I was able to become good friends with her,” she said. “I will forever miss the sleepovers. I will forever miss the late night talks at those sleepovers. I will forever miss the laughs we shared or the lunch we ate together every day.”
Friend Meygan Glowney said from the moment she met Kayden, she realized she was special.
“Kayden always brought the best out of anyone and anything,” she said. “She was always able to fill any situation with joy and laughter, whether it was watching funny videos together or walking around shopping malls and putting on the most random outfits just to get us to laugh and take pictures of her. My favorite times I got to spend with Kayden were all of our sleepovers where we would stay up all night laughing and talking about anything and everything. I truly wish we could’ve just had one more of those nights together.”
‘ALWAYS KIND, GENEROUSLY GIVING AND PURPOSEFULLY THOUGHTFUL’
Ava’s stepmother, Tiffany Desjarlais, who started an AngeLink for the family, remembers Kayden as being nothing but sweet and kind.
“Her favorite color was red, although I swear it was pink,” she said. “She loved hibiscus flowers. She wished me happy Mother’s Day every year. She would tell me I’m the coolest mom ever and my stepdaughter was so lucky to have me. On our way to school, we would stop by Starbucks and grab Kayden an iced white mocha with a birthday cake pop. It was her favorite. For my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday celebration, she gave me two of her own Hawaiian flower barrettes to put in my hair for the party and cruise. That’s who Kayden was. Always kind, generously giving and purposefully thoughtful.”
Family friend Mary Verbinski also started a GoFundMe to help raise funds for the family.
“Kayden brought so much love and joy into the lives of all that knew her, and she will be deeply missed,” Verbinski wrote on the page. “As we come to terms with Kayden’s passing, her family is faced with the difficult task of arranging her final farewell. Although there is no easy way to say goodbye to a child, we hope to at least ease the financial burden of the family. We are reaching out to our community for support in honoring Kayden’s memory. Any contribution, no matter how small, will help alleviate the financial strain and allow her family to focus on grieving and remembering Kayden fondly. … We also appreciate your thoughts, prayers and messages of support during this difficult time.”
A visitation for Kayden was held June 14 at Family Funeral Care, where attendees dressed in Kayden’s favorite colors, red and pink.
Christine Avera said Kayden was extremely close to her grandmother, Nana, who lived with the family, and Kayden helped her every day.
When Kayden died, her Nana suffered an immediate heartbreak. She died one week later.
The Avera family dedicated the following quote to Kayden: “May you fly with the butterflies and touch the stars, dance with the angels, and talk to the moon.”
