Erika Carr, a 30-year-old mother from Ogden, Utah, has been battling Stage 4 small cell lung cancer for over two years. Diagnosed just before Mother’s Day in 2022, Erika has faced a tough journey filled with treatments and hospital visits. Recently, doctors gave her the heartbreaking news that she has only three months to live.
Erika has decided to spend her remaining time with her two young children, Jeremiah, 7, and Aaliyah, 5. She calls them her “whole life, light, and soul” and wants to make the most of the time she has left with them.
Erika started a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses and leave something for her children. She set an original goal of $5,000 to cover the costs, but her story began to tug on many heartstrings. The donations came in, and she has so far raised over $750,000. The unparalleled response has thus enabled her to provide a trust fund for her children’s future.
Erika’s path has not been easy. Along with her struggle with cancer, she also developed a rare hormonal disorder called Cushing’s syndrome, which helped her to gain weight fast, deteriorating muscles and bones, among other serious health problems hand in hand. Amid everything, Erika nevertheless still focuses on her kids and their times together.
The response from the community has been overwhelming; over 26,000 donations have been made toward her cause measure of how much her story resonated with others. Erika herself is deeply grateful and says she had never expected such a deluge of love and generosity.
She is enjoying all this time with her kids while preparing for the future. Strong and determined, her story allows us once again to be reminded that in hard times, family is crucially important like community support.
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