(KUTV) Shortly after the birth of her second child, a Utah mom had just a few options: let her son die or fight for his life. Teagan Pettit was born with a heart defect. Teagan was missing half of his heart. Doctors and his family had no idea anything was wrong with him at first. “We took him to the pediatrician and that was a scheduled appointment for a Jaundice checkup,” said Teagan’s mom. “And the pediatrician looked at him and saw a gray baby.”

Doctors at Primary Children’s Medical Center told Teagan’s family that he had one of the worst congenital heart defects. His family had to make a decision: Teagan would either get a heart transplant; have surgery to fix his failing heart; or he would go home and pass away that weekend. “We looked at the doctors and said, ‘what would you do if this was your son’?”

Teagan’s family opted to try surgery. Four days after he was born, Teagan would have open heart surgery. This was 4-years ago. Since then, Teagan has had two surgeries and will have a third surgery in the summer. His mother says Teagan will likely need a heart transplant at some point in his life. For now, little Teagan is busy working on his drum solo and saving the world with his toys. Whatever happens, it will be a chapter of what his family now calls “Teagan’s Story. “We have just taken the heartache and turned it into hope. It is about dancing in the rain. We can’t wait until this storm passes. We have just learned to live with it and make the best of it. We call this our new normal.”

(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcasting Group)