Taylor Swift Donates $50,000 to Woman Injured While Saving Teens in Highway Crash

Taylor Swift has donated $50,000 to help a Connecticut woman who was seriously injured while saving a teenager from a highway crash.

Ashley Taunton, 42, was driving on I-95 in Rhode Island in July when she saw a vehicle that had hydroplaned and stranded three teenagers on the roadside. Taunton stopped to help and asked her youngest daughter to call her husband.

As Taunton spoke with the teens, another vehicle lost control on the wet road and headed toward them. Taunton pushed one of the teenagers, Vinny, out of the vehicle’s path before she was struck.

Taunton suffered life-threatening injuries, including damage to major blood vessels, liver and spleen injuries, several broken ribs and a ruptured diaphragm. Doctors expect her recovery, including physical therapy, could take up to a year.

Taunton later learned that Vinny was the son of a longtime friend she had met years earlier.

A GoFundMe campaign created to support Taunton and her family had raised more than $64,000 as of Aug. 28. Swift’s $50,000 donation was recently added to the fundraiser.

Taunton said the experience has changed how she views life. She now wants to spend more time with family and friends and avoid putting off plans, saying that “we never know how you’re going to leave this earth.”