Former Miss New Jersey Cara McCollum dies a week after crashing her car on icy roads and suffering massive head trauma

A former Miss New Jersey died this moing while undergoing an operation a week after suffering massive head trauma during a car crash.

Cara McCollum, 24, who won the beauty pageant in 2013, passed away at 4.41am on Monday according to a Facebook group updated by her friends and family.

They wrote: 'Thank you all for this tremendous outpouring of love and support for our Cara. We can’t begin to tell you how much your prayers have meant to us in this incredibly difficult time.

'Cara passed away this moing. Her family was with her in the operating room, and she died peacefully at 4:31am. 

'Before she died, Cara made the selfless decision to donate her organs. At this very moment, she is saving lives.

'We’ve prayed constantly for a miracle, and we believe God has answered our prayers. Although it’s not the miracle that we first envisioned, it’s a miracle nonetheless.'

Her family posted a video of McCollum performing a version of 'Cups' by Anna Kendrick in the film 'Pitch Perfect.'

The song includes the lyrics 'you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone' and was performed by Miss New York Kira Kazantsev when she won the Miss America pageant in September 2014 that McCollum also competed in.

McCollum had undergone two rounds of brain surgery in an attempt to save her life last week, but her condition continued to deteriorate.

McCollum's boyfriend, TV news anchor Keith Jones (pictured together), paid tribute to her on Facebook this moing, saying he is 'eteally grateful and blessed for the time I spent with Cara'

Jones added that 'words fall short of describing the pain' he feels, and that McCollum changes his life forever

McCollum was fatally injured on Monday last week when her 2014 Ford Mustang veered off Route 55 in highway, struck a tree, spun, hit two more trees and came to rest in a ditch.

Icy roads are thought to be the reason behind the one-vehicle accident. The 2015 Princeton graduate wasn't wearing a seat belt at the time. 

Following the crash she was transported to Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey in critical condition with severe head injuries.

Cara, an Arkansas native, had been working on the anchor desk of an upstart television news broadcast out of Millville, SNJ Today, for about six months.

She was dating Keith Jones, a TV anchor for Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate.

This moing, Jones wrote on Facebook: 'Please accept our sincerest thanks for your heartfelt prayers. 

McCollum had been driving her 2014 Ford Mustang on Route 55 last Monday when she hit an icy patch and crashed into several trees while not wearing a seat belt

'Words fall short of describing the pain, but I’m eteally grateful and blessed for the time I spent with Cara. Her enormous heart enriched my life and changed me forever.'

An SNJ Today spokesman said: '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. We will miss her terribly.'

She won Miss New Jersey in 2013 and competed in the 2014 Miss America Pageant.

Her 2013 platform was literacy, when she arranged to have books donated which she wrapped and attached cards to before distributing them to first and second grade students in New Jersey.

After winning the pageant she helped promote the Women's Leadership Institute, run by former assemblywoman Carolin Casagrande, that informs high school girls about the career opportunities open to them. 

McCollum is survived by her parents and brother. 

McCollum won the 2013 beauty pageant in New Jersey before going on to compete in Miss America 2014, a competition she ultimately lost to Nina Davuluri, Miss New York

During her New Jersey campaign, McCollum used a platform of literacy, convincing people to donate books before wrapping and putting cards on them and then handing them out to first and second grade students