A Utah mom has been forced to fundraise to plan her own funeral and support her two young children after being diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer.
Erika Diarte-Carr, a 33-year-old single mother to Jeremiah, 7, and Aaliyah, 5, made a desperate plea on GoFundMe to raise $5,000 after receiving bad news from her doctor:
On May 7th, 2022, the day before Mother’s Day, I walked into the emergency room due to what I thought to be just a normal shoulder injury and walked out diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer along with the doctor’s words replaying in my head, “I hope you have a good support system at home because you’re going to need it, you have a long and hard journey ahead of you.” The doctor then proceeded to tell me that there were multiple tumors that had metastasized to other parts of my body including my skeletal, which is how we were able to find the tumor that was causing my shoulder pain. By that point the damage had already been done. In that moment, mine and my kids’ entire lives had changed forever, as well as all of those around us.
On top of her shock diagnosis with stage 4 small cell lung carcinoma, Diarte-Carr also found out she had Cushing Syndrome in January 2024 —- which led to several other issues like dramatic weight gain, swelling, deterioration of her muscles and bones, diabetes, and “so much more!”
After receiving her diagnosis, the hardworking mom still managed to maintain a full-time job and parent her children.
“I do have an AMAZING support system but over time it has put a major financial, emotional, mental and physical toll on us all,” she noted.
As if she was not already going through enough hardship, a September 18 update from her oncologist revealed that the situation was even more dire than previously thought.
“Due to my prognosis, I have decided to discontinue treatments as they will no longer help. I have been given 3 months to live. 3 months to spend with my babies and loved ones. 3 months to make the best of what time I have left,” Diarte-Carr wrote in an update on GoFundMe. “During these next couple of months I need to make sure my kids will be ok after I am gone. I am faced now with the most difficult thing of planning my own funeral.”
As her condition worsened she eventually had to stop working, and found herself in a financial pit.
“I do not have any finances saved up or any life insurance set aside for this situation,” the mom wrote. “I have looked into the expenses and I am needing to raise about $5,000 to ensure funeral costs are covered plus I’m wanting to leave something behind for my babies.”
She added in her plea that while it was “hard for me to put my personal business out there today and to finally ask for help,” she had to do it for her children.
Since creating the fundraiser after her original diagnosis, Diarte-Carr received a lot of support from those in her community. Since finding out she only has three months to live, the page has raised over $1 million.
“All the funds that have exceeded my funeral cost will be now put into a trust fund for my babies,” the mom wrote in an update. “That way, I can leave behind something for them and I can still ensure they are going to be ok as they grow up.”
“They are my whole life, light and soul. My children are my fight and what keep me going.”
In an interview with ABC4 after the fundraiser blew up, she said, “It happened overnight. I never expected that.”
“I never expected to have a big funeral service, or a lot of people reach out and help me. With the way it’s went, I’m just in shock … just very grateful for everybody and everything that’s been there.”
