{"id":65502,"date":"2026-05-07T19:27:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65502"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:27:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:27:53","slug":"mother-finds-solace-in-knowing-her-daughters-donated-organs-are-supporting-the-lives-of-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/07\/mother-finds-solace-in-knowing-her-daughters-donated-organs-are-supporting-the-lives-of-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother finds solace in knowing her daughters donated organs are supporting the lives of others"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The story of Victoria “Tori” Smith<\/strong>, who passed away at age 22 in July 2025, is a powerful testament to selflessness. Her family, particularly her mother Carmen Smith, has been open about the immense comfort they find in Tori\u2019s final act of generosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Legacy of Life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tori was known in the Lakeland community for her vibrant personality and her history as a competitive cheerleader.<\/sup> Even in her passing, she continued “lifting others up”\u2014a phrase her family uses to describe her decision to be an organ donor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Impact:<\/strong> Her donation provided the gift of life to multiple people, including a young child<\/strong> who received her heart.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The “Tori’s Love Lives On” Campaign:<\/strong> To honor her memory, her family established a campaign supporting the Polk County Bully Project<\/strong>, reflecting her deep love for animals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Community Remembrance:<\/strong> Her life was celebrated in September 2025 at The Club at EagleBrooke in Lakeland, where friends and family gathered to honor the “full color” life she lived.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Knowing that her “loving heart” continues to beat in another is a profound source of peace for her mother, ensuring that Tori\u2019s spirit and zest for life endure through the lives she saved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The story of Victoria “Tori” Smith, who passed away at age 22 in July 2025, is a powerful testament to selflessness. Her family, particularly her mother Carmen Smith, has been… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL3VubmFtZWQtMS0yLndlYnA_Zml0PTEwMjQlMkM1NzYmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJNb3RoZXIgZmluZHMgc29sYWNlIGluIGtub3dpbmcgaGVyIGRhdWdodGVycyBkb25hdGVkIG9yZ2FucyBhcmUgc3VwcG9ydGluZyB0aGUgbGl2ZXMgb2Ygb3RoZXJzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.SAQKt5W0OGZIaxM3VdOTw6nimlsUY6DH4YEo4sQYKWgMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC91bm5hbWVkLTEtMi0xMDI0eDU3Ni53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiTW90aGVyIGZpbmRzIHNvbGFjZSBpbiBrbm93aW5nIGhlciBkYXVnaHRlcnMgZG9uYXRlZCBvcmdhbnMgYXJlIHN1cHBvcnRpbmcgdGhlIGxpdmVzIG9mIG90aGVycyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.HSWfdiDxujBNonZgEv81u8JZRbOqMfez67tAiAT57i8MQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[14569],"class_list":["post-65502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-mother-finds-solace-in-knowing-her-daughters-donated-organs-are-supporting-the-lives-of-others"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65504,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65502\/revisions\/65504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}