Family of young organ donor on a mission to help grieving families

The parents of a young organ donor are on a mission to help other grieving families. They've launched a new program to help provide much-needed emotional support so that donor families never grieve alone.

Taylor Storch was only 13 years old when her life was cut short. She was on a ski trip with her family in 2010 when things took a devastating turn down a mountain in Colorado.

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"Taylor just got going too fast and she skated into the trees and she hit a tree and it was from an accident that we lost her, and she was doing everything right. She was a great athlete. She was wearing her helmet. It was just an accident," explains Tara Storch, Taylor's mother.

An accident that forever changed the Storchs’ lives, but they found hope in unexpected places.

"A nurse approached us and said something no parent is ready to hear: your child is a beautiful candidate for organ donation, would you consider it? We had never talked about organ donation with our family, not even once, but we knew because of the type of child Taylor was, she would have absolutely said yes, and Taylor went on to save and improve the lives of five people with her gifts of life," states Tara.

After agreeing to organ donation, the Storchs have since been encouraging other families to consider the gifts of life.

"I don't think we'll ever be at peace that we lost our daughter, but it sure has given us so much strength. That decision was the right one for our family and we see how you know her recipients are living on, having lives, and have a second chance," says Tara.

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The Storchs began the foundation "Taylor's Gift" after losing their beloved daughter. Now they are helping grieving families through their new and free program called "Kindred Hearts".

"Our new focus is to make sure that no organ donor family ever grieves alone. We have seen this big gap of emotional support for organ donor families like ours and we're stepping into that, giving organ donor families the emotional support they need," says Tara.

They meet with the other families online, offering tender love and understanding from the point of knowing what those in pain are going through.

"Organ donation is this unique kind of grief. It is a mix of grief because it's a sudden loss, so there's shock and confusion, and then you also have this side of gratefulness because your loved one saved lives. So that's what organ donation is, it's a mix of grief and gratefulness and you know, we understand that, that's why we're stepping into this space," says Tara.

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Tara and her familly encourage others to have the important conversation about organ donation with your loved ones. She says becoming a donor is a beautiful way of outliving yourself.

For more information, including how to become a donor: https://www.taylorsgift.org