Utah mom who raised $1M for own funeral fears donors think fundraising campaign is a scam

A Utah mother dying of cancer who has raised a staggering $1 million in donations is reassuring donors that fundraising efforts are not a scam.

Erika Diarte-Carr was told she only has three months to live after undergoing several treatments for her highly aggressive form of small cell lung carcinoma. The single mother, now 33, was just 30 when she received the news but has battled on over the past couple of years.

In January this year, Erika was told she was also suffering from Cushing Syndrome - a disease which caused her to put on more than 60 pounds within a matter of weeks as well as experiencing muscle and bone deterioration, high blood pressure, Moon Face and Type 2 diabetes. On top of this, she has been left unable to walk.

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The mom started a fundraiser to help raise funds for her children, five-year-old Ailiyah and seven-year-old Jeremiah, after she dies. "Three months to spend with my babies and loved ones,' she wrote, 'three months to make the best of what time I have left."

Despite only setting up the page with a $5,000 target, kind well-wishers have generated more than $1,165,657 and counting. In her latest update she thanked her supporters and said because of the generous donations she was able to plan a family trip that will leave her loved ones with memories to last a lifetime.

"Other than that I can promise you that your help is going to keep my kids financially stable the rest of their lives as I am putting it all into a trust fund for them," she wrote. "I know there has been much speculation on whether or not this is a scam. I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart that this has caused some doubt and worry in regard to your own donation."

"If you feel like you need more reassurance I want to inform you I do eventually plan on doing a live via TikTok when I am able to," she continued. "I want to make sure everyone knows that this in fact is unfortunately a real situation. I just please ask for your patience and time because even the simplest day to day things that come easy to you no longer is easy for me and some things tend to take me a lot longer and it’s a struggle to get things done in a timely manner. Thank you again."