By Sara Schilling, Herald staff writer

RICHLAND -- Taylor Tefft asked her dad last fall about the red heart symbol on his driver's license. He explained that it meant he was an organ donor.

"She said, 'When I get my driver's license I'm going to make sure there's a heart on it,' " said Jamie Peterson, the girl's mom.

Taylor never got her license because she died a few weeks later at age 11 in a car accident on Interstate 182 in Pasco. But she did become an organ donor, and her kidneys, liver, pancreas and corneas were used to give people she would never meet a second chance at life.

April is national Donate Life Month, a time to celebrate donors like Taylor. The girl's mom helped raise a special organ donation awareness flag over Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland on Thursday afternoon to inspire others to think about registering as donors.

"It's my way to honor her and the gift she gave," Peterson said.

Peterson was joined by Daria Miller of Sunnyside, whose 19-year-old son B.J. died in a car accident in 2007.

He also was an organ donor. Miller has become friends with the woman who received his liver -- she's a mother of twins who likely wouldn't have been able to watch them grow up without B.J.'s gift.

"My son had a personality and a love in him that was unbelievable," said Miller, who now speaks to students and other groups about the importance of organ donation.

"He's not forgotten," she said. "It helps me to spread the news."

The organ donation flag will fly over Kadlec this month. Peterson works at the hospital in patient financial services and approached officials about doing something special to mark the month.

After Taylor's car accident, "I was standing there (in the hospital), holding her hand, knowing there was nothing I could do to save her life," she said.

But there are other parents with sick children whose lives could be saved by a transplant, she said. A single organ donor can save or enhance the lives of more than 50 people, according to information from LifeCenter Northwest Donor Network.

Right now, more than 105,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for life-saving organ transplants, and at least 18 people die each day before getting one, the information said.

The accident that took Taylor's life happened last October.

Her cousin, Alexandra Hatley-Flores, 12, also died. Both girls were students at Chief Joseph Middle School in Richland. Alexandra also was an organ donor.

Peterson said she knows organ donation isn't something people like to talk about, but it's important.

"I want people to stop and think about it, be educated about it," she said.

For more information about organ donation, go to LifeCenter Northwest's website at www.lcnw.org.