'Our hearts are very broken': Girl at center of 2015 WCSD lawsuit dies

Autumn Silvera, a student at the center of a $1.35 million lawsuit in 2015 who suffered from severe cerebral palsy but had a beaming smile, died on Friday.

She was 17. 

Silvera was in hospice care at home for the past two weeks after a series of seizures permanently damaged her brain and body, according to her mom, Karessa Silvera.

Autumn Silvera died peacefully in her pink, unicorn-themed room with her princess crown on as the sun shone outside, her mom said.

"Her parents were with her until her last breath. She was in comfort with the birds chirping, window open, fresh flowers and candles going," Karessa Silvera told the RGJ Saturday.

Life was never easy for Autumn Silvera, who was quadriplegic, nonverbal and had a number of other conditions, her mom previously told the RGJ. Still, Autumn's family did their best to give her remarkable experiences, from riding a horse to being pushed around on an ice rink.

“You name it, we’ve done it. One time, I even rented a 30-foot boat and a captain and I said, ‘I don’t want anyone else on this boat,’” Karessa Silvera previously said. “I put her in a bean bag chair so she’d be steady and adjust better to the motion.

"She loved it. The wind was whipping through her hair.”

The Silveras were one of two families that filed a lawsuit against the Washoe County School District in 2015 after Karessa Silvera discovered a teacher at Marvin Picollo School had abused her daughter.

The teacher was rough with Autumn, and cursed and yelled at her, the lawsuit said. At one point, the teacher shoved the girl, then 8, on top of a horse at the school's equine therapy program and pried her legs apart when she could not get them around the horse.

When Autumn cried, the teacher pulled her off the horse and threw her back in her wheelchair, according to the suit. The district agreed to a $1.35 million settlement two years after the families filed the suit. It was the largest settlement in the district's history at the time. 

Karessa Silvera is now an interventionist at the district, helping students who are struggling academically. 

The past few years were difficult since Autumn Silvera was separated from her mom, stepfather, brother and stepbrother for the better part of the pandemic due to COVID-19 related restrictions at her nursing home.

Last month, Autumn Silvera's health took a turn for the worse, which led to her initial hospitalization. Staff at Renown and her parents threw her a prom in her hospital room on April 23 since she missed the Joy Prom, a prom held for youth with disabilities. 

During her prom, she wore a golden, beaded gown styled after Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She wore a silver crown bedazzled with a hot pink heart in the center, the same crown she wore when she died. 

Silvera said her daughter will be honored in many ways, including at her funeral, which will be bright, sparkly and butterfly-themed. The family is making arrangements and is considering donations to the Dandy Walker Alliance, which researches one of the conditions Autumn Silvera had, in lieu of flowers.

They are also donating Autumn Silvera's long locks to cancer patients.

Karessa Silvera will always have part of her daughter with her, however. The mom and daughter shared a love for country music, which Karessa Silvera would play through the window when she couldn't see her daughter during the pandemic. Autumn Silvera's favorite song was "Tin Man," by Miranda Lambert. 

She plans to bring her daughter's ashes with her to a Lambert concert this summer. 

"Our hearts are very broken," she said.

Jenny Kane covers arts and culture in Northern Nevada, as well as the dynamic relationship between the state and the growing Burning Man community. She also covers the state's burgeoning cannabis industry. (Check out her podcast, the Potcast, on iTunes.) Support her work in Reno by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.