A mother of two is planning her own funeral after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, even though she only arrived at the emergency room with a shoulder injury.
Erika Diarte-Carr, now 33, was told she had a very aggressive form of small cell lung carcinoma when she was just 30 years old.
The single mother of Ailiyah, five, and Jeremiah, seven, discovered she had multiple metastatic tumors throughout her body.
‘At that point the damage was already done. In that moment, my entire life and that of my children changed forever,” he said.
Erika Diarte-Carr, a mother of two, went to the emergency room for what she thought was a normal shoulder injury and came out after being diagnosed with terminal stage 4 cancer.
After receiving his cancer diagnosis, two years later he was diagnosed with Cushing’s Syndrome and in September of this year his treatments were no longer effective.
Her diagnosis of Cushing’s disease caused her deterioration to worsen after her treatment was stopped, leaving her as ill as she is now.
She received the devastating news just one day before Mother’s Day in 2022, before learning on January 17 of this year that she was also living with Cushing’s syndrome.
This caused him to gain weight rapidly, more than 60 pounds in a matter of weeks.
He began to experience muscle and bone deterioration, high blood pressure, moon face, and type 2 diabetes.
she said ABC 4 that Cushing also prevents him from walking.
The single mother continued working full-time as long as possible and only took two months off for appointments, surgeries, biopsies, radiation treatments and chemotherapy.
“I have felt ashamed and embarrassed that people knew the truth that I have kept this a secret for as long as I could,” she wrote in a GoFundMe page“but the physical effects are starting to take over and I can’t hide it anymore.”
Treatments were stopped when his scans began to clear up, but his Cushing’s dramatically affected his health and quality of life in the months that followed.
She says her Cushing’s disease is one of the main reasons her health deteriorated so much to where she is now.
She stopped her treatments in September because they were no longer effective and she was told she only had three months to live.
“Three months to spend with my babies and loved ones,” she wrote, “three months to make the most of the time I have left.”
“Three months to spend with my babies and my loved ones,” Diarte-Carr wrote, “three months to make the most of the time I have left.”
She started a fundraiser, asking for help in any way she could, with a goal of $5,000 on GoFundMe for her funeral and to help support her children after her passing.
Diarte-Carr explained that she wanted to spend time with her children without getting sick from treatments and medications.
He said that now all his energy is devoted to his children and that he wanted to “make the best of it” in the remaining time.
Now she faced the difficult task of planning her own funeral and making sure her children were taken care of.
Asking for help anyway, he launched the page with a goal of $5,000. to be used for his funeral expenses and support for his children after his death. Since then, fundraising has exceeded $750,000.
‘Because I haven’t been able to work for months, I don’t have any money saved or any life insurance set aside for this situation. “If you could donate or share something, we would appreciate it,” he said.
“All funds that exceeded the cost of my funeral will now go into a trust fund for my babies, that way I can leave something for them and can still make sure they will be okay when they grow up,” Diartecarr wrote
Diarte-Carr’s cousin, Angelique Rivera, shared the heartbreaking photo of her children hugging their mother in a hospital bed and that her story touched the hearts of many.
“We are speechless and could never thank you enough,” Rivera wrote.
Viewers of the post reached out in the comments offering help and support to the family in any way they could.
‘Is there anything else we can do? Meals? Halloween costumes? His story has touched many!! Praying for her and her sweet babies.’ wrote one.
Another commented: ‘OMG I’m praying so hard for your comfort and for your sweet babies who will have to navigate without their mom. This story destroyed me. Please God take care of these beautiful people.’
Many others offered help to the children and Diarte-Carr in their final months, with toys, donations, food and asking how they can get involved.
Diarte-Carr then informed those who donated or will donate that she had stopped her treatments because they were no longer effective and told them she had three months to live.
Their community in Ogden, Utah, offered a lot of help and support to the single mother and her family by offering meals, toys, money and prayers, as well as any help they could provide.
She thanked those who contributed and wrote: ‘All funds that exceeded the cost of my funeral will now be put into a trust fund for my babies, that way I can leave something for them and can still make sure they will be okay as they go. grow.’
Diarte-Carr also expressed gratitude to his medical team in Ogden for their “time, attention and patience.”
‘My family and I thank you ALL from the bottom of our hearts!’ he said.
And he added: ‘(My children) are my whole life, light and soul. My children are my struggle and what keeps me going.’
Five-year-old Ailiyah told ABC 4, “She’s special to us.”
The family is planning a camping trip and hope the children can experience another Christmas with their mom.