Broken Arrow Firefighter's Daughter Receives Heart Transplant

Green Country is rallying around a Broken Arrow firefighter's daughter who just received a heart transplant.

She has been through three strokes, numerous hospital stays and most recently, a heart transplant but Lizzy Teeter doesn't let much of anything get her down.

"She is definitely ornery, it's definitely pushing us and pushing her to recovery so much faster," said Lizzy’s dad Richard. "The drive that she has to not be locked up in a room."

Lizzy's parents say the first 8 months of their baby girl's life were completely normal until Lizzy got sick and Doctors told them her heart was enlarged. Lizzy stayed in the hospital for a few weeks and then was sent home.

About a year later, she was sick again and doctors said this time she needed a new heart.

"When we were in Tulsa, she actually died on us twice," said Richard. "When she lost motion to her limbs and she couldn't move. That really got to me."

Last week, Lizzy finally got the call saying she would be getting the ultimate gift, a new heart.

"In order for our child to have a heart, someone else lost their baby and that's tough, that is really tough, but they chose to donate life," said Lizzy’s mom, Raelyn.

Richard Teeter has been a Broken Arrow firefighter for the last three years. While the Teeter family has been in the hospital with Lizzy, their fire department and church families have come together to raise money.

"I honestly don't know how families that don't have this kind of support make it through this," said Richard.

"We're a big family. We want to take care of each other. We have some outstanding members of this department that, they know if they were ever in this situation that guys like Richard would be there to help them," said BAFD Lt. Branson Phillips.