Woman Whose Best Friend Agreed To Adopt Her Children After She Fell Terminally Ill Has Died

A terminally ill mother whose best friend promised to adopt her three children due to her battle with ALS has died. 

Sara Hankins, 36, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on Monday at home, according to reports. 

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When Hankins was in the final stages of the disease that left her unable to move, she asked Armstrong if she would adopt of her three youngest children – Amara, 8, Micah, 9 and Cayden, 11.

Hankins also has an 18-year-old daughter Alexa.

“I love these kids with all my heart,” Armstrong said in a previous interview with InsideEdition. “They’ve been through so much. The mom can’t just wrap her arms around them and hug them.”

Armstrong is a single mom and has a 14-year-old son, Kai, but there will be room for three more kids. “I know it’s a lot,” she said. 

But her friend’s spirit will be there, too, she said.

Read: Parents Stagger under Grief of Losing 2 Sons in Back-to-Back Deaths: 'I Don't Know What to Do from Here'

Armstrong and Hankins met in hairdressing school in Illinois 17 years ago. 

The melded family spent their last Christmas together in December. 

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