A GoFundMe campaign started in honor of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed in the Texas school shooting, and her husband, Joe, who died Thursday, has raised more than $2.6 million in just four days.
Debra Austin, Irma’s cousin, apparently started the campaign, which has also been covered by other national outlets including CNN and the Washington Post. NBC News was not able to independently confirm Austin’s identity by press time. The Detroit Free Press reported that it confirmed that the account has been verified by the site.
The campaign quickly surpassed its initial goal of $10,000 and has raised its funds from more than 46,000 donations, according to the page. The campaign was combined with another campaign initially set up by John Martinez, who CNN identified as Irma’s nephew, which raised more than $550,000 and got a boost from philanthropist Bill Pulte after he encouraged his 3.2 million followers to donate to the campaign.
Irma was a fourth grade teacher who had been teaching at Robb Elementary in Uvalde for the past 23 years, according to her school biography. She and her co-teacher of five years, Eva Mireles, were killed along with 19 children after being gunned down by the 18-year-old gunman last week.
“Irma was a wife, a mother of 4, a cousin, a sister a daughter, an aunt and a wonderful person,” Austin wrote on the fundraiser page. “She would literally do anything for anybody……no questions asked. She loved her classroom kids and died trying to protect them.”
Just two days after the shooting, Irma’s husband, Joe, collapsed and died at home after bringing flowers to a memorial in Irma’s memory. Doctors and family members said it was possible that he died of broken heart syndrome, formally known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a rare condition that typically occurs following extreme stressors — though experts cautioned it’s impossible to know the cause of death without an autopsy or X-ray.
“I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life of more than 25 years was too much to bear,” Austin wrote on the campaign page.
The condition causes the release of bursts of stress hormones that prevent the heart from properly contracting.
The late couple, who were high school sweethearts, have four children, according to Garcia’s school biography. The New York Times reported that the kids range in age from teenagers to early 20s.
Austin wrote that the funds raised will go towards the family.
“Please donate anything you can to help her family. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Garcia family for various expenses.”
Donors to the GoFundMe page expressed their condolences for the Garcia family and for the late couple’s children especially.
“You can see the love Irma and Joe had for one another in their photos and we pray their children will always remember the love their parents had for them,” one posted.
“Comfort and peace will come in time as memories of your wonderful parents replace the grief and pain,” another wrote.
Other GoFundMe campaigns have been started to raise money in honor of victims, including Mireles, Irma’s co-teacher, and others who survived the shooting — including 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, who told CNN she smeared blood on herself and played dead to survive the shooting and has wounds from being hit with fragments in the shoulder and head, and 9-year-old Kendall Olivarez, who was shot in the shoulder and sustained fragment wounds in her leg and tailbone, according to her fundraising page.
Aria Bendix and Daniella Silva contributed.