OGDEN – An Ogden mother who garnered international attention after raising nearly $1.2 million for her children and to cover her own funeral expenses following a terminal cancer diagnosis has died, according to a social media update from a family member over the weekend.

Erika Diarte-Carr, 30, died Friday, her cousin revealed in a Facebook post early the following morning.

“She has joined her mother Sylvia, her Brother JJ, her uncles Chava & Loui on the other side,” the post read. “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.”

Included in the post were photos of Diarte-Carr with family members at her bedside.

Diarte-Carr was diagnosed in May 2022 with Stage 4 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) following a trip to the ER for what she thought was just a shoulder injury. Having battled the disease for more than two years and endured complications, including developing Cushing’s syndrome, she later decided to use what time and energy she had left to be with her children and also do what she could to ensure a positive future for them.

“I was getting really sick and my main concern is like ‘Well, I don’t have anything. I don’t have anybody. Like, what am I gonna do with my kids?'” Diarte-Carr told the Standard-Examiner earlier this month. “I need to know before I go that my kids are gonna be okay.”

The single mother of two — ages 5 and 7 — launched a GoFundMe campaign with an initial fundraising goal of $5,000 for funeral expenses on June 25. As of Monday afternoon, 38,315 people had donated a combined $1,177,789. A multitude of donations of $1,000 or more were made, including one attributed to professional wrestler Chris Jericho.

Diarte-Carr said that all of the additional money raised would be placed in a trust for her children.

“The funds are going into a chest for my kids, so it’s not going to be touched,” she said. “It’s just going away for the kids for when they’re older. There’s nothing drastic or out of the blue that we’re going to do with the money.”

Prior to her death, Diarte-Carr also expressed her thanks to all the people who donated to the campaign and shared her story, which Rivera told the Standard-Examiner would “live on forever.”

“I really just want to thank everybody for coming together and helping me and my family out. From close to far, just all around — everybody. I just want to give a thanks and just let them know that I’m very grateful for everything that they’ve done,” she said. “I’m glad that my story could help them and there’s a lot of people who have impacted my life and my kids’ lives and I’m just glad I got the opportunity to have these people in my life. I just want to say thank you to everybody.”