A 33-year-old mother of two from Utah is planning her own funeral after going to the ER with a ‘shoulder injury’ and receiving devastating news

A mother of two is planning her own funeral after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, even though she only went to the emergency room with a shoulder injury.

Erica Diarte-Carr, now 33, was told at the age of 30 that she had a very aggressive form of small cell lung cancer.

The single mother of five-year-old Ailiyah and seven-year-old Jeremiah learned that she had multiple metastatic tumors in her body.

“At that point, the damage was already done. “At that moment, my life and my children’s whole life changed forever,” she said.

Erika Diarte-Carr, a mother of two, went to the emergency room for what she thought was a normal shoulder injury and left after being diagnosed with terminal stage 4 cancer

After receiving a cancer diagnosis, she was diagnosed with Cushing’s syndrome two years later and in September of that year her treatment became ineffective.

After stopping treatment, her diagnosis of Cushing’s disease led to her condition worsening, leaving her as sick as she is today.

She received the devastating news just one day before Mother’s Day 2022, and on January 17 this year, she learned that she also suffered from Cushing’s syndrome.

This caused her to gain weight quickly, over 60 pounds in a matter of weeks.

She began to experience muscle and bone degradation, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and a moon face.

She told ABC 4 that Cushing’s syndrome also prevents her from walking.

The single mother worked as long as possible, full-time, taking only two months off for appointments, surgeries, biopsies, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

“I felt ashamed and embarrassed for people to know the truth, that I kept it a secret as long as I could,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page, “but the physical effects are starting to take over and I can do it.” Don’t hide it any longer.

Treatment was discontinued when test results began to improve, but Cushing’s syndrome dramatically impacted her health and quality of life in the months that followed.

She says that Cushing’s disease is one of the main reasons why her health has deteriorated so significantly.

She stopped treatments in September because they were no longer effective and was told she had only three months to live.

“Three months to spend with my children and loved ones,” she wrote, “three months to make the most of the time I have left.”

“Three months to spend with my children and 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 to go towards her funeral and to support her children after her death

Diarte-Carr explained that she wanted to spend time with her children without getting sick due to treatments and medications.

She says she now focuses all her energy on her children and wants to “just make the most of it” with the remaining time.

She now faced the difficult responsibility of planning her own funeral and providing care for her children.

Asking for any help, she launched a page where $5,000 was allocated to cover funeral costs and support for her children after her death. Since then, fundraising has surpassed more than $750,000.

“Since I have been unable to work for months, I have no money set aside or life insurance for this situation. If you can, please donate or share anything, we would appreciate it,” she said.

“All funds that exceeded my funeral costs will now go into a trust fund for my children, that way I can leave something for them and still know that when they grow up, all will be well,” Diarte-Carr wrote

Diarte-Carr’s cousin, Angelique Rivera, shared a heartbreaking photo of her children hugging their mother in a hospital bed, and her story touched the hearts of many.

“We are lost for words and can never thank you enough,” Rivera wrote.

Viewers of the post wrote in the comments, offering the family any help and support they could.

Can we do anything else? Meals? Halloween costumes? Her story touched so many!! I pray for her and her sweet children. wrote one.

Another commented: “Oh my god I pray so damn hard for her comfort and for her sweet babies who will have to cope without their mommy. This story blew me away. Please, God, protect these beautiful people.

Many others offered to help the children and Diarte-Carr in her final months, donating toys, donations, food and asking how they could get involved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHkeib-qqa0

Diarte-Carr then informed those who had donated or would donate that she had stopped her treatments because they were no longer effective, and was told she had three months to live.

Her community in Ogden, Utah offered the single mother and her family an abundance of help and support, offering meals, toys, food, money and prayers, as well as any help she could provide

She thanked those who contributed, writing: “All funds that exceeded my funeral costs will now go into a trust fund for my children, that way I can leave something for them and still know they will be OK when they grow up .

Diarte-Carr also expressed gratitude to her medical team in Ogden for their “time, care and patience.”

“Me and my family thank EVERYONE from the bottom of our hearts!” – she said.

She added: “(My children) are my whole life, light and soul. My children are my struggle and what keeps me alive.

Five-year-old Ailiyah told ABC 4, “She’s special to us.”

The family is planning a camping trip and hopes the children will be able to experience another Christmas with their mother.