Book Review: Taylor's Gift by Todd and Tara Storch

Forewarning: This book is extremely sad.  It deals with a major crisis that a parent hopes he or she never has to cope with.  If you don't think you can handle a book so sad this story is not for you!

At the age of 13, Taylor took a spring break vacation with her family to ski for the first time.  She was a natural and graduated to the higher level slopes quickly.  Was this a mistake?  With her younger sister and mother waiting in the lobby, her father, younger brother, and Taylor went down the slope one last time.  Taylor found out she could not stop.  She kept going faster until she got in an accident and bounced around some trees near the slope.  You may have heard of Taylor's story as it made the national news.  She did not survive and her parents had to go through the difficult decision of whether to donate her organs.

This is not the story of Taylor's life.  This is the story of what Taylor provides after her death.  Her parents decided to donate her organs.  I agree with them.  This is the way to go.  Help someone else with their life.  That is what Todd, Tara, and Taylor did by donating Taylor's organs.

What will get you, or rather, what should get you if you are normal is her parents' recovery after the death of their oldest child, especially the mother.  Tara is in such grief she is practically not living.  Her day-to-day activities are being cared for by others, including making sure she eats, which she doesn't, and bathing, which she does occasionally.

Todd, Tara's father, deals in a different way.  He needs to be active and thus creates the charity Taylor's Gift, which focuses on organ donation.  Its sole purpose is to spread the word on signing up to donate organs.  As the Storch family connects with recipients of Taylor's organs it helps them recover.  Tara feels an extreme connection to the new owner of Taylor's heart.

I am interested in stories like these.  I wasn't expecting it to be so sad, but reading about the parents dealing with the grief really pulled the heartstrings. Tara really falls down to the depths.  But, that helps make her recovery even better.

I read this story as a review request from netgalley.com using Adobe Digital on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.