Todd and Tara Storch took their family on the trip of a lifetime in 2010, but before it was over, their daughter, Taylor, had died. A ski accident took the life of the 13-year-old.

At the hospital, devastated by grief and facing a parent’s worst nightmare, Todd and Tara had to answer a question they had never even considered: Would they be willing to donate Taylor’s organs?

After seeking counsel and prayer, they agreed. Todd told the neurosurgeon, “Absolutely!” and Tara added, “It’s what Taylor would want.” They knew Taylor would have chosen organ donation—not because she had said so, but because of who she was and how she had lived her life for others.

The Storches’ choice saved the lives of five people waiting for a heart, liver, kidney and corneas.

In Taylor’s Gift: A Courageous Story of Giving Life and Renewing Hope (978-0-800-72188-6, $21.99), releasing this month from Revell (Baker Publishing Group), Todd and Tara Storch, with New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Schuchmann, tell Taylor’s story—her life before the accident, her family’s grief, the purpose her family found in the organ-donation process and the lives of the people Taylor’s organs saved.

The Storches write candidly about the messiness of their grief, the heroic practical support of their family and community, and their determination to connect with at least one of Taylor’s recipients. 

“Since the day we made the decision to donate Taylor’s organs, it was the one thing I wanted more than anything else,” Tara writes. 

They got their wish. In a short time, they connected with four of Taylor’s five organ recipients.

In the early days of their grief, the Storches learned that their home state of Texas ranked the second-lowest in the country in organ-donation registration. This stirred a desire, first in Todd. 

“What could I do to help educate people and lead them in conversations about organ donation?” he wondered.

In response, the two created Taylor’s Gift Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising organ-donation awareness. Their journey has received national media attention, including an NBC Today Show appearance along with Patricia Winters, who received Taylor’s heart. 

The Storches write that their book is not only Taylor’s story, but also “the story of countless recipients who received organs because someone heard Taylor’s story and registered to be an organ donor.”

For more information about Taylor’s Gift, visit www.bakerpublishinggroup.com, or to order, call 800-877-2665.

Visit www.christianretailing.com/taylorsgift for our interview with the Storches.

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