A 24-year-old beauty pageant champion and TV news
anchor died Monday, one week after she was critically injured in a crash, her
friends announced.
Cara McCollum, who won the Miss New Jersey pageant in
2013 and participated in the Miss America competition, died at about 4:30 a.m.,
according to the Facebook page "Prayers for Cara," which has been
posting updates about McCollum's condition.
"Before she died, Cara made the selfless decision
to donate her organs. At this very moment, she is saving lives," the group
wrote.
"Although it's not the miracle that we first
envisioned, it's a miracle nonetheless. In the end, it's not the years in your
life that count. It's the life in your years."
McCollum was critically injured Feb. 15 after losing
control of her Ford Mustang along Route 55 in Salem County, state police said.
McCollum — who wasn't wearing a seatbelt — was
believed to have been driving too fast on the rain-slicked roadway when the
crash occurred. Her car spun off the right side of the road and struck a number
of trees before coming to rest at the bottom of an embankment.
She was later transported to Cooper Health Systems,
where she underwent surgery.
Friends and relatives held out hope that McCollum
would recover from her injuries, but her condition proved fatal.
The Arkansas native and Princeton University grad
became a news anchor and spent about six months working at SNJ Today, a
Millville-based news provider, following her pageant days.
SNJ Today released a statement about McCollum's death
Monday.
"Cara showed warmth to everyone she met. She was
a part of our news team family and we are gratified to have worked with her —
even for such a short time," her SNJ co-workers said. "We will miss
her terribly."
McCollum is survived
by her parents and brother, as well as boyfriend Keith Jones, an anchor at NBC
station WCAU in Philadelphia. Following McCollum's death, Jones reflected on
her life in a Facebook post, sharing images of the couple's happy times together.
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