Taylor's Gift. Life After Loss.

March 14, 2010 started quite literally ‘on a high’ for the Storch family.  Parents Todd and Tara with Taylor (13), Ryan (11) and Peyton (9) were enjoying a family skiing trip in Colorado.  No-one would ever have expected the day to end with Taylor being flown to hospital by air ambulance.

It was the very first day of the holiday and Todd, Taylor and Ryan set off on their run down the mountain while Tara and Peyton waited in the village below.  At first, all went well, but then Taylor got into trouble.  She shot towards the trees bordering the run, hit one head on, and then bounced into another.  Despite wearing all the right protective gear, she was unconscious when Todd and Ryan reached her.  Ryan rushed to call the ski patrol while Todd stayed with his daughter.  And all in a moment, the joy and brightness fled out of the day.

At 12.15pm the following day doctors told her grieving parents that Taylor had died, and asked a question which would change countless lives: ‘would you be willing to donate Taylor’s organs?’

Donate Taylor’s organs? Who thinks about such things? It doesn’t even cross parents’ minds that their child might die in a skiing accident – let alone whether or not they should donate their child’s organs.  But now, in Taylor’s hospital room, the unwanted question stood at attention before them.  Todd and Tara didn’t say anything out loud, but they both knew what the other was thinking.
What would Taylor do?

* * * * *

Taylor was outgoing, vivacious, and caring.  She described her teenaged self in a poem written for a school project just a week prior to her accident:

I Am

I am outgoing and friendly.
I wonder how long is forever.
I hear support from my family whenever I need it.
I see myself helping people in every way I can.
I want to be on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

I am outgoing and friendly.
I pretend I can do anything I want to.
I feel touched by the generosity of my sister.
I touch people’s lives.
I worry about failing.
I cry at the thought of losing a member of my family.

I am outgoing and friendly.
I understand how to make people feel happy.
I say with pride that I am a Christian.
I dream about becoming a teacher.
I try to make every day like my last.
I hope to become successful in life.
I am outgoing and friendly.

'Would you be willing to donate Taylor's organs?'
 

Taylor had a kind heart and loved to help others.  Her parents knew without a doubt that she would want this.  Much later, they would say it was her life, not her death which led to the decision.  So they agreed to the organ donation, then held each other and wept.  Knowing that her organs would help others was the only thing which allowed them to make any sense of their loss.

In fact, Taylor’s gifts helped 5 people.

Her heart saved the life of a young mother. 
Her kidneys and pancreas transformed the life of two men who had been on dialysis for eight and two years respectively.
Her cornea helped a young woman see better and eradicated her severe headaches and eye pain.
Her liver went to an unnamed recipient.

* * * * *

Grief is not linear. Each person grieves differently, and so it was and is for the Storch family, including of course Ryan and Peyton. Tara’s grief was paralysing and physical.  Todd needed things to do.  He quickly found that very few people are registered as organ donors.  He and Tara established the Taylor’s Gift Foundation to promote organ donor awareness.  Although based in the USA, the Foundation links to organ donation sites and movements around the world, including the National Donor Database, Live Life then Give Life, the Donor Family Network and Transplant Sport (all UK based).  As a direct result of its work, many people have signed up to donor registers worldwide.

Taylor’s story is one which can touch us all.  She was a much loved daughter, part of an  'ordinary' family living an ‘ordinary' life, going along from day to day as we mostly do, until a chain of events altered their family structure forever.  Although the Storch family lives in the USA, the grief of losing a family member is universal.

 

The Storch Family

 

Taylor's parents plumbed the depths of grief which any parent losing a child faces, and they acknowledge that it could have torn their marriage and family apart. 

A wise couple who had themselves experienced loss counselled them to allow each other to grieve in their own way and emphasised the importance of not doing anything that would drive a wedge into their relationship.  Todd learned to accept Tara’s need to sleep away the days, and Tara learned to let Todd work, or meet up with friends.  They didn’t have to like it, but they had to respect it.  Todd calls it the best advice they’d ever been given, and says it saved their marriage.

In just three years since that bright spring day in Colorado Taylor’s story is known internationally, and her legacy is significant.  She left the world a better place, not only for her organ recipients, and their friends and families, but also those who have received organs because donors signed up after  hearing her story.

In Todd’s words, ‘We were given the privilege of organ donation.  It wasn’t just a decision, it was a privilege.’

By registering to be an organ donor you have the privilege of one day saving someone’s life.  It costs you nothing, and it’s the greatest gift you could ever give. 
If you’re in the UK, please sign up HERE.

For more information on the Taylor’s Gift Foundation site.

Taylor’s Gift (International Paperback edition) is out in the UK in May.
For book information, sample chapter and video, click here.
You can pre-order the book via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.