Taylor Lynn Elaine Tefft was a very active and outgoing 11-year old. She loved sports, laughing, music, animals and her friends. A tomboy for most of her life, she had started to show signs of being a young lady by taking long trips to the mall and experimenting with curling her hair. But Taylor could still beat anyone on the basketball court or softball diamond. Full of life, Taylor exuded joy in every laugh, every smile.

On October 5, 2009, Taylor called her mother, Jamie Peterson, at work to ask if she could go to her cousin’s football game. “Later that day, I returned home and was waiting for her to arrive when I got a call from my sister-in-law telling me there had been an accident,” recalled Jamie. “It reminded me of another phone call 10 years earlier when my father was killed in a car accident. Although I didn’t know Taylor’s condition, something told me my life was about to change forever.”

Shortly before, Taylor had asked her father about the meaning of the heart on his driver’s license. Taylor was aware of organ donation, as Jamie’s father had been a donor. At that time, she told her father, “When I get my license, I will make sure I have a heart on mine too.”

Jamie stated: “As I sat in the hospital with my aching heart, holding Taylor’s hand, I thought of the other mothers sitting in hospitals holding their own child’s hand, waiting for a second chance. I knew there was something we could do that would save them from this heartache. I told the medical staff that Taylor wanted to be an organ donor.

“On October 7, 2009, Taylor gave the world her final gifts -- saving or enhancing five people’s lives. She touched more people then I ever imagined in her 11 years. Her smile, her friendship, and her love left a lasting legacy with those that knew her. But in the truest testament to who Taylor was, her greatest gifts were to strangers. Her life was not forever, but her love lives on.”