Tempe Fire: Community despair deepens as mom dies, just weeks after losing her babies

Tempe, Arizona: Valerie Magana-Gonzalez has died in hospital after a valiant two-week battle. The 22-year-old mom, who was in a coma, succumbed to injuries sustained in a fire at a mobile home park near Baseline and Kyrene roads on August 26.

The blaze has claimed the lives of five people including Valerie's two young children: Three-year-old Ariareli Ruiz and 18-month-old Ellany Ruiz. Also killed were Valerie's boyfriend Christian Ruiz and mother-in-law.

“They’re very important, very special people. Those two little girls were amazing. My mom, my brother…We are going to miss them very much. We are just trying to get all the help that we can because this is going to be very difficult,” said Valerie's sister-in-law.

“I still can’t wrap the idea around my head that they’re gone,” she said. “There is a million questions, and we don’t have answers for any of them.”

Earlier in the week as Valerie's family prepared for the funerals of her children and Ruiz, they hoped she would regain consciousness and have the opportunity to say a final goodbye. "I asked if before the memorial she could see her daughters, just so that she can at least say goodbye without even knowing that it’s her last goodbye," a relative said.

A GoFundMe page to help the family pay funeral costs has already received over $18,000.