Honor Erica Willhight's Memory

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have to share the quite unexpected passing of my sister, Erica Willhight.

Erica was only 38 years old. She was a kind-hearted human with a passionate relationship with God. She always went to church and welcomed everyone to come and talk to her about religion. She would welcome people of any religious preference to share their opinions without judgment. She even had prayers with the chaplain at the hospital she stayed at before her passing. Erica was the eldest of 5 siblings, myself included. She was a mother to a beautiful teenage girl. She loved to knit, and she truly had a love for the simple things in life. She was always snapping photos of the sunsets or finding joy in a good book; she even had a 239-day streak on Duolingo. She was close with her nephews (my children), and she would have given the shirt off her back to show any human on this earth all the love she could muster. Erica was the most loving person. It didnt matter who you were, she just had love in her heart for you no matter what. She battled mental illness her whole life, but during the last couple years of her life, the last year especially, she was stable and happy, and it was like she had finally found her peace.

Erica passed from a suspected pulmonary embolism, which is basically a blood clot that made its way to her lungs. She had recently had emergency spinal surgery due to a condition that caused her vertebrae to collapse and compress on major nerves. She had lost control of her lower body from her waist down. Her vertebrae from L4/L5 all the way through her tailbone had been compromised. On November 15, 2024, she was flown to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they performed the surgery almost immediately after her arrival. Going into the surgery, she couldn't walk anymore, and they weren't sure if she'd ever walk again. The following day after surgery, she took her first steps again. She wasn't out of the woods, but she could walk. She was looking at a very lengthy recovery, but she had hope. She was doing extremely well for having such a massive surgery. Erica was discharged to home health care, going to endure a 6-12 week recovery with them doing rehabilitation with physical therapy and skilled care. She was released the Tuesday following her surgery and was excited to start the recovery process at home.

Erica had many goals, she was going to start walking daily to regain her strength, she was going to start living her life with intention instead of just living. She had so many plans for her future.

Everything seemed to be going really well. The following Monday, November 25, 2024, our mother found her unconscious with no pulse and immediately started CPR (she used to be an EMT). She also called 911, and unfortunately, nobody was able to resuscitate her. Erica had passed away.

Our family has hit a financial crisis as we have travel expenses from Erica's recent stay in the hospital, and now we are looking at funeral costs and burial expenses. This falls at such a hard time of year, and we just want to give her the respectful rest she deserves. Our goal is to reach $10,000 to cover funeral costs and burial expenses. Every little bit helps, 5, 10, 20 dollars. All efforts are greatly appreciated.

If you cannot give at this time, we ask that you share our story and help us to cover the cost of her funeral.