'Baby Ava,' survivor of 2011 Ocean City car crash, dies at age 13
Ava Marie DelRicco, 13, of Ocean View, Delaware, and known publicly as "Baby Ava" after the December 2011 car crash that nearly killed her, has died.
"We lost the most precious little girl today. She was our angel and so sweet. She passed in her sleep," Lisa DelRicco said in a Friday, June 16 Facebook post.
Ava brought such a bright light of sunshine to anyone that was around her, the DelRicco family said in the young girl's obituary posted by Melson Funeral Services. Ava had just finished seventh grade at Georgetown Middle School through Howard T. Ennis. She loved music and would move her legs to the beat of the music in her roller-walker. Also a beach girl, she loved being on the beach and spending time with her family.
Ava was merely an infant when she suffered life-threatening injuries in the 2011 car crash in Ocean City.
She and her mother, Annemarie DelRicco, were stopped at a red light at 142nd Street and Coastal Highway after running errands in the resort town when Andre James Kaczynski, high on PCP at the time and speeding northbound on Coastal Highway, slammed his pickup truck into the family's vehicle.
The impact was "explosive," crushing the rear of the vehicle and breaching the passenger area where Baby Ava was secured in her car seat, Delmarva Now previously reported. The collision caused Ava, only 18 months old at the time, to suffer two broken legs, a crushed foot and a traumatic brain injury. She required multiple brain surgeries that involved replacing a part of her skull and a shunt in her head.
The entire resort community embraced “Baby Ava” with vigils, fundraisers and prayers, her obituary said. Her strong, resilient personality allowed her to survive the accident, but the severe brain damage limited her quality of life. Her mother and father became her around-the-clock caregivers.
A visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, at the Ocean View Chapel of Melson Funeral Services, located at 38040 Muddy Neck Road in Ocean View. A visitation will also be held from 11 a.m. to noon on Thursday, June 22, at St. Luke Catholic Church, located at 9903 Coastal Highway in Ocean City, where a Mass of Christian Burial will begin at noon. Interment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Dagsboro, Delaware.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions in Ava’s name to the Epilepsy Foundation by visiting www.epilepsy.com.
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Olivia Minzola covers communities on the Lower Shore. Contact her with tips and story ideas at ominzola@delmarvanow.com.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: 'Baby Ava,' survivor of 2011 Ocean City car crash, dies at age 13
