Utah mom raises over $750K for own funeral after terminal cancer diagnosis

OGDEN, Utah ( ABC4 ) — A mother in Utah who has been fighting for her life after being diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer has now been given three months to live and she’s decided to spend it with her kids. People across the country have rallied around her, donating over $750,000 in a fundraiser that had an original goal of only $5,000.

Erika Carr, 30, is a single mother of two children — Jeremiah, 7, and Aaliyah, 5. She calls them her “whole life, light and soul … and what keeps [her] going.”

On May 7, 2022, Carr was diagnosed with Stage 4 small cell lung carcinoma, a “high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma,” she stated. Her diagnosis came the day before Mother’s Day and she’s been battling for her life for over two years now.

Doctors told her, “I hope you have a good support system at home because you’re going to need it, you have a long and hard journey ahead of you.”

Her condition had improved — positive scans giving her the opportunity to stop treatment and see how she progressed.

During this time, on Jan. 17, 2024, she developed Cushing’s syndrome — a rare hormonal disorder that occurs when the body is exposed to too much cortisol for an extended period. It has had a multitude of difficult impacts on her body, including rapid weight gain and swelling, muscle and bone deterioration, high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes.

Though she restarted treatment on Sept. 18, 2024, doctors told her that she had three months to live. She’s chosen to discontinue treatment and spend that time cherishing her two children.

Carr’s been given the seemingly impossible task of planning her own funeral and she decided to create an online fundraiser to help cover the costs. She set a modest goal — asking for only $5,000, hoping that maybe she’d be able to leave some extra money behind for her children.

She has since received over $750,000.

There have been over 26,000 donations given to her cause. She’s now created a trust fund and she’s thankful her children will be OK when they grow up.

“It happened overnight. I never expected that,” she told ABC4. “I never expected to have a big funeral service or a lot of people reach out and help me. With the way it’s went, I’m just in shock … just very grateful for everybody and everything that’s been there.”

Renisha Mall contributed to reporting.

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