A young single mom from Oklahoma is planning her own funeral — and raising the money to cover the expenses and help provide for her children — after a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Kaylin Gawf, a 28-year-old mom to daughter Jace, 9, and son, Memphis, 6, launched a GoFundMe to pay for her funeral and end-of-life expenses following a three-year battle against metastatic breast cancer, which has spread to her brain.
“This is the hardest thing I have ever faced. My biggest fear isn’t dying; it’s leaving my children behind with added pain, stress, and financial burden to my family when I’m gone,” Gawf wrote on the fundraiser.
The mom of two was first diagnosed with HER2+ breast cancer, a form of cancer that tests positive for a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The cancer metastasized to Gawf’s lungs, bones and lymph nodes. By 2023, it had reached her brain and she was diagnosed with two different kinds of brain cancers, metastatic breast cancer and leptomenigeal disease, which occurs when advanced cancer spreads to the cerebrospinal fluid and leptomeninges, or the thin layers of tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Along the journey, Gawf was also diagnosed with Cushing’s disease, a hormonal disorder caused by too much cortisol or from taking medicines called glucocorticoids, according to Mayo Clinic.
The Cushing’s disease diagnosis led to Gawf gaining 70 pounds, congestive heart failure, two brain surgeries and other serious complications, she wrote in the fundraiser.
She notes that she “should have taken out life insurance,” but that she “truly believed I was going to beat cancer here on this earth.”
“I never imagined I would hear the words, ‘There’s nothing more we can do for you.’ Just a few weeks before Christmas, I was told hospice would be calling my mom and me to set everything up,” she wrote.
“My world changed forever in that moment. I’m so heartbroken for my children and family,” Gawf continued.
“I am so not ready to leave them just yet, but I want to do everything I can to protect them and ease their future, even when I’m no longer here,” Gawf wrote.
After the fundraiser, which had received over $310,000 in donations as of Monday afternoon, went viral, Gawf’s mother, Myra Gawf, spoke with KOKI about how the terminal diagnosis has impacted their family.
“I can’t fix this. I have to let her fight this herself, and I can’t take it away from here. It’s hard every day to have to sit and watch her go through that,” Myra Gawf said.
“There’s just nothing they could do for her; it spread that much. They’ve already done five different cycles of chemotherapy, and there’s no more because her body can’t handle it,” she continued. “We thought we’d beat it. Now, we’re planning a funeral. So, it’s just heartbreaking.”
The heartbroken mother praised her daughter’s determination to continue providing for her children, even after she’s gone.
“She still wants to be able to look out for them and try to plan for their future, and I thought it was nice that she actually did that,” Myra Gawf said.
“If she doesn’t complain for what she’s going through, what do we have to complain [about]? She inspires us all to do that, especially me. She’s my little hero is what she is.”
