A Single Mom with Terminal Cancer Is Raising Money for Her Funeral and Kids’ Trust Fund. She's Raised $900,000 So Far

“3 months to make the best of what time I have left ... I need to make sure my kids will be ok after I am gone,” the mom said

A Utah mother, who was just given three months to live, is raising money for her own funeral after “silently battling a rare terminal cancer” for two years.

Erika Diarte-Carr, 30, initially set a GoFundMe campaign goal of $5,000 to cover the cost of a future service, but more than 30,000 donors have since helped her raise $900,000 as of Sunday, Sept. 29 — with the rest of the donations intended to be put into a trust fund for her two children.

As mom to Jeremiah, 7, and Aaliyah, 5, Erika called her kids her "whole life" in the fundraiser’s description, where she revealed in September that she's been battling small cell lung carcinoma for the past two years.

She was initially diagnosed with the cancer on May 7, 2022, when she walked into an emergency room with what she thought was a "normal shoulder injury," per local outlet ABC4 and the description of the single mom's GoFundMe. Now, she wrote, the doctor's words are "replaying" in her 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 than 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," Erika wrote. "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."

Related: 'Blocked Pore' Turns Out to Be Skin Cancer for 29-Year-Old Mom: 'I Had Such a Bad Feeling About It'

Less than two years later, on Jan. 17, 2024, Erika was diagnosed with Cushing's syndrome, which the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases describes as a disorder caused when one's body "makes too much of the hormone cortisol over a long period of time." Per the institute, only 40 to 70 people out of every 1 million have Cushing's.

"That's when I started to decline and things got worse," she told ABC4, adding that it caused the "majority" of her health issues including not being able to walk.

As the Utah mother explained on her GoFundMe, the diagnosis caused "so many other underlying issues" including rapid weight gain and swelling, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, "moon face," muscle and bone deterioration and more.

"Since my diagnosis I have managed to keep working full time, taking only 2 months off in the beginning for surgeries, biopsies, appointments, radiation and chemotherapy treatments," she wrote. "All while still being a full time mama. I do have an AMAZING support system but over time it has put a major financial, emotional, mental and physical toll on us all."

In an update on her campaign, citing an oncologist appointment on Sept. 18, Erika wrote that she has since "decided to discontinue treatments as they will no longer help." She was given three months to live, she revealed.

"3 months to spend with my babies and loved ones. 3 months to make the best of what time I have left," she wrote. "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."

Related: 3 Girls Cared for Their Mom as She Was Dying of Cancer — Now They're Becoming Nurses: ‘Mom Is Looking Down’ (Exclusive)

While Erika wrote that she's been "ashamed and embarrassed for people to know the truth" of her diagnosis, she said not asking for assistance "is no longer an option" for her, which led to her decision to launch her fundraiser.

After acknowledging her "amazing medical team" — including Carl Gray and Kylie Money at Ogden Hematology Oncology, Steven Brown of Tanner Clinic and Brandon Fisher — the mother wrote that any funds exceeding her funeral costs will be placed into a trust fund for her children.

“It happened overnight. I never expected that,” Erika told ABC4 of the amount of money raised with the fundraiser, which surpassed $900,000 as of Sept. 29.

“I never expected to have a big funeral service, or a lot of people reach out and help me," she added. "With the way it’s went, I’m just in shock … just very grateful for everybody and everything that’s been there.”

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