Update-
A mother of two, Erika Diarte-Carr was planning her own funeral after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, despite initially visiting the emergency room for a shoulder injury. She passed away per cousin Angelique Rivera, and she posted the sad news to Facebook on October 12.
Angelique Rivera wrote, ·
“It is with a heavy heart that this is the final update i will be giving for my cousin Erika. She has joined her mother Sylvia, her Brother JJ, her uncles Chava & Loui on the other side. She fought a long and hard battle. She was strong and held on as long as she could for her babies. I know she was so thankful for all of your support and love and prayers. Erika Diarte-Carr RIP 10/11/2024”
Erika Diarte-Carr, now 33, was diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of small cell lung carcinoma at just 30. The single mother of five-year-old Ailiyah and seven-year-old Jeremiah was informed that she had multiple metastasized tumors throughout her body.
At that point, the damage had already been done and Erika’s life was forever changed.
Two years after her Stage 4 terminal cancer diagnosis, she was also diagnosed with Cushing Syndrome, and by September of this year, her treatments had become ineffective.
This caused her to quickly add on the pounds. She gained more than 60 pounds within a few weeks. Other symptoms included muscle and bone wasting, high blood pressure, Moon Face and Type 2 Diabetes.
As a single mom, she kept on working as long as she could.
Erika Diarte-Carr started a GoFundMe to help with the expenses. She recently made a heartbreaking update.
“UPDATE: September 18th, 2024 I had a Dr. Appointment with my oncologist. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given the best news. 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. 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. Due to me not being able to work for months now I do not have any finances saved up or any life insurance set aside for this situation. 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. ‘
As it stands now, Erika has more than exceeded her original goal of $5,000. She raised $848,623 of $5,000 goal.
Her GoFundMe states “FOR ANYONE’S CONCERN , ALL THE FUNDS THAT HAVE EXCEEDED MY FUNERAL COST GOAL WILL BE NOW PUT INTO A TRUST FUND FOR MY BABIES THAT WAY I CAN LEAVE BEHIND SOMETHING FOR THEM AND I CAN STILL ENSURE THEY ARE GOING TO BE OK AS THEY GROW UP.”
