By the time he was 21 years old, Taylor Thyfault was an experienced Army veteran who was just finishing up his training to become a Colorado state trooper. Even when he was a teenager his mother, Carole Adler, recalls that he had the plans for his life already in place. In fact, at age 15, Taylor wrote out 25 goals for his future life.

Taylor’s mom knew all about his future dreams. The list was written and was always there to be referenced. Mother and son were so close that his dreams were her dreams and whatever happened in her son’s life also happened in hers, according to USA Today. They went to the gym together and met for coffee every Friday morning. She knew how determined and driven her son was. She knew he would go on to accomplish everything on the list.

Last May Taylor was working with a veteran Colorado state trooper on an assignment in an investigation of a crash on Colorado’s Highway 66. They received a call warning them of a high speed chase that was coming in their direction. Immediately Taylor put out some stop sticks in the hopes of slowing the suspect down as they approached where he and the other trooper were.

The suspect swerved to avoid the sticks and crashed into Taylor and the state trooper. The other trooper was severely injured but lived. Taylor was killed instantly. There was a tow truck driver who was waiting for the crash investigation to finish up so he could tow away the vehicle. He didn’t see the high speed chase coming. Taylor yelled to him to get out of the way. The tow truck driver dove out of the way to safety.

On the list of future goals Taylor had written out when he was 15, saving a life was number nine on the list.

His mother Carole said that Taylor would have done it again. It was what he was and all he wanted to do. The two had texted constantly everyday keeping up with their comings and goings. Carole was the last person Taylor ever texted.

After a couple of weeks, Carole decided to text Taylor’s phone anyway, just to feel closer to him. She had done this a couple of times, but one day she received a reply.

Sergeant Kell Husley of the Greeley, Col., police department had received a new cell phone and phone number for his work over the past summer. He had noticed the text messages but was deleting them. He just figured someone had sent them to the wrong number. One night, very late, he got another one from the same number. He decided to reply.

He identified himself and told Carole that this was his new work number and no longer Taylor’s number. Husley, a 33-year veteran of the force, told Carole he would get another number. Carole told him to keep it because her son would have wanted that because he was a police officer and that’s all Taylor wanted to be.

After being a cop for 33 years, Husley was nearing retirement and burn out was closing in. However, when he heard about Taylor from Carole, he found renewed strength and dedication. Carole texts him once in a while just to see how he’s doing.

Taylor is still helping people, she smiles. That’s all he ever really wanted to do.