Hello! My name is Caitlan, I'm 25 years old, and I'm trying to raise money to help cover the costs of my mother's funerary expenses.

Two weeks ago my mother, Cynthia, passed away suddenly after a vigorous bout of necrotizing pneumonia. Over the course of the last few months of her life, the pneumonia ate away at the lining of her lungs causing them to grow soft and riddled with holes. The severity of her illness led to a plethora of other health issues such as pulmonary fibrosis, septic shock, seizures, and in the week before she died it ultimately caused both of her lungs to collapse. Throughout the last few months she just grew weaker and weaker until eventually, she wound up on extensive life support measures and completely non-responsive.

Luckily, my brother and I were blessed enough to be able to travel to be with her throughout the last hours of her life and were fortunate enough to hold her hands as she died following the cessation of all life saving measures. Cynthia died on April 5th at 6:29pm in Phoenix, Arizona. She is survived by her son, Jacob, her very fat cat named Little Bear, and also by myself - her daughter, Caitlan.

Though both my brother and I are endlessly grateful that we were able to see her before she passed, the cost of traveling to do so was more expensive than we initially expected, and ate through what little funds we had that might have been able to go towards her funerary costs.

The funds raised will go towards the cost of cremation, an urn, delivery of her remains from Arizona to Utah, as well as towards a copy of her death certificate. Any excess funds will go towards the cost of care for her cat, as I promised my mother I would make sure her beloved cat was taken care of following her passing.

I had hoped to initially be able to fund these expenses myself but, I'm currently in college and over the course of the last year I lost my job due to an unexpected injury. Shortly after losing my job, my childhood home was foreclosed on due to unpaid taxes accrued in the aftermath of my father's death when I was 16, and I have since had to relocate to another state 500 miles away from my home town and from my brother, Jacob. I can't look for full time work due to my school schedule, and I have yet to find a part time job out here given I've been trying to manage my mother's care and make decisions for her on her behalf over the last couple of months as she grew more and more ill.

To recap, over the last year I have lost my childhood home, my job, and within the last few weeks, I have also lost not just my mother, but someone I considered my best friend as well, all while trying to pursue my degree as per my mother's wishes. As previously mentioned, the costs of getting out to see my mother to be able to say goodbye and be by her side as she was taken off of life support were greater than originally anticipated and as such, I regretfully lack the ability to be able to give my mother the dignity in death that I believe she deserves, or some semblance of closure for my brother and I.

Any and all donations received would mean the world to me during this difficult time. Especially as I begin to adjust to this new reality in which both of my parents are gone, I'm 500 miles away from the only home I've ever known, and I begin to try and build a better and brighter life for myself. Having to undertake such a task without having my mom by my side is horribly painful and impossible to imagine, but being able to have this matter regarding her remains taken care of would make this process just that much easier on me.

Thank you for your time, I hope you have a wonderful day.