Elise Caffee, a popular mom blogger in Utah, has died after being badly burned by hot asphalt in a car wreck in Mexico.
Caffee ran the Instagram account 3KidsTravel, where she posted to her more than 45,000 followers about traveling with her husband Dan and their three children. According to a family-run Instagram account called Elise Caffee Updates, which was created to tell people about Caffee’s recovery efforts, the mom died as she was en route to a wedding in Mexico with her husband.
“We are absolutely heartbroken to share the news of Elise’s passing tonight,” reads a message posted to the Instagram account. “She held on so long and fought so hard against an impossibly difficult set of circumstances.”
The post continued, “Absolutely everything that could have been done for her was done and we are so grateful she was able to make it back home to say goodbye to her family before leaving us. We believe in eternal families and know we’ll see our beautiful mom, sister, wife, and daughter again.”
Another post from the same Instagram account explained that the car accident happened earlier this month.
“Elise and Dan arrived in Mexico for a wedding on March 6th and on the way to their hotel they were involved in a 10+ car pileup on a freeway in Cancun where a truck full of hot asphalt hit them, flipping their car, trapping Elise underneath, and dumping steaming hot asphalt on top of her as well as the people in front of the other cars,” said the initial post.
The post continued, “It happened right in front of a hospital which is a miracle. Hospital workers rushed out and immediately started trying to help get people out from under cars … but were getting burned through their protective gloves because the asphalt was so hot. Elise’s body is badly burned, her face is not.”
Caffee, whose Instagram bio read in part, “Expert travel mom who believes you can take your kids everywhere!” joked on her account that her family motto was “Bribes work!” when traveling with her children. Caffee wrote on her website that after she had her first baby, friends said she’d have “to stop traveling so much” but that she and her husband Dan vowed to keep up their love of travel. When Caffee’s eldest was four weeks old, the family hopped on a plane to a beach. The baby’s next adventure included camping overnight in Yosemite, followed by a trip to Mexico. According to Caffee’s Instagram account, Paris, Scotland, and Maui were just three locations the family had visited.
“Over time we added two more girls to our family and we kept traveling and adjusting to life as a family of five,” Caffee wrote on her website. “Traveling became our way to connect and bond as a family.”
After the car wreck, Caffee was transported to burn unit in Utah, according to the post, and later was in critical condition after undergoing surgery. An update post stated that Caffee was recovering from surgery. “We’ve received hundreds of letters for her and we can’t wait to start reading them to her,” one caption said.
“Today was a calmer day than yesterday,” read a later post. “The Caffee girls went in while Elise got her hair washed. Then the girls were able to take turns brushing it and braiding it. Dan ended the night serenading Elise with his guitar.” Caffee also visited by therapy dogs, according to another post.
Caffee’s family wrote on a post that they plan to share details about a celebration of life for the mother of three.
