A mum whose fight for a liver transplant inspired millions in the United States has died at the age of 39 during surgery.
Erika Zak's death came after a liver became available on Thursday and her transplant team prepared her for surgery.
The fact a liver became available buoyed her spirits, CNN reports.
Before going into surgery, he said, Erika was able to spend time with the couple's 5-year-old daughter, Loïe.
In a statement the family said: "Late yesterday the stars briefly aligned while we were at the hospital for an unrelated medical procedure and an organ miraculously became available right then for transplant.
"We were so excited and rushed our daughter in to spend a half hour with Erika.
"She then quickly went into the OR, but deep into the surgery, her body couldn't handle some of the trauma apparently.
"She died in surgery."While our family is devastated by the loss of our beautiful wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend, we do want to express our deepest gratitude to all of those who have supported Erika and our family through these very difficult weeks, months and years.
"Through her perseverance in life, Erika embodied hope and set an example of strength."
In a phone conversation with CNN her husband fought back tears.
He said: "It's beyond devastating.
"She loved Loïe more than anything, she fought desperately to be with her.
"It's just excruciating that she didn't get to spend a day or weeks or years healthy with Loïe."
He said the family was "forever grateful" for the outpouring of love Erika received and that she drew inspiration from "Erika's Army," the social media warriors who took up her cause and spread her story.
She maintained her sense of humor and zeal for life to the end."She was so appreciative of what happened the past week," Powers said.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page for her funeral and other expenses. They have asked for privacy during this time to grieve.
A cancer survivor, Erika Zak said liver disease was excruciating: "Liver failure is the worst thing ever."
In her final conversation with CNN, Erika said: "It just feels like everything is a battle, and it shouldn't be that way. It sucks because most people don't know that they can fight back.
"There's more that I want to see; more life I want to live."
Of death, she said: "I'm more scared of what I leave behind.
"I basically spend a lot of time daydreaming about what I would want to do with Loie and Scott if I was healthy and where I would want to go."
In recent weeks, as her condition deteriorated, she vomited blood, her skin peeled off and she said her legs, feet and hip grew so swollen it felt "like she was carrying an extra person".
Over the last five years, Erika survived 70 rounds of chemotherapy to treat colorectal cancer, multiple procedures and a microwave ablation surgery that went terribly wrong and left a fist-sized hole in her liver.
About a year and a half ago, her heath insurance company, UnitedHealthcare, denied her coverage for the transplant.
The insurance giant did ultimately approve her coverage after a four-month delay.
