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    • Toronto family looks to give back after daughter's life-saving transplant

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    Isabella Tutsch cheerfully wears the green shirt that has come to symbolize the past two years of her life.

    The words "Team Izzy" are emblazoned up top. Right below is the image of a young Isabella, with a pink cape draped around her neck.

    Why the cape?

    "Because I'm brave," she replies.

    After receiving her own gift of life just a couple of months ago, things are looking up for Isabella.

    The five-year-old from Toronto, Ont., underwent a successful liver transplant in October, a procedure that would ultimately prove to be life-saving.

    "She wasn't going to make it to Christmas probably without it," her father, Tim Tutsch, told CTV National News.

    It was back more than two years ago on Dec. 2, 2019, that Isabella had an elective surgery to remove a cyst outside of her liver.

    While considered a relatively simple procedure, complications led to sepsis 鈥 when the body has an extreme response to an infection 鈥 an emergency surgery and recurrent infections that have seen her move in and out of hospital ever since.

    "To be frank, we thought she was actually getting better until about June of this year," Tim said.

    On Aug. 25 鈥 the day after her fifth birthday 鈥 doctors told Isabella's parents that their daughter would need a liver transplant.

    The liver is the only organ that completely regenerates, and often a living liver donation is the fastest solution.

    Both Isabella's parents were screened, but neither was a match. Their family members also were tested, but no one proved to be a match either.

    "We tried to think and properly draft an email, asking the most outrageous question possible," her mother, Elizabeth Tutsch, told CTV National News.

    The couple sent the email to everyone in their network and later posted their plea on social media.

    "We had to, we had to try to find somebody to help her," Tim said. "We couldn't wait."

    One person who got the family's plea was Karen Coristine, a mother of three herself. She would submit her application to be a potential donor that same day and was later found to be a match.

    "I would want someone to do that for my kids, you know, if I wasn't able to," she said. "I can't imagine."

    On Oct. 21, Coristine gave Izzy a part of her liver.

    "Her liver, when they finally took it out, they said it was in worse condition than they expected, so she effectively had end-stage liver disease, but obviously she's five," Tim said.

    "It wasn't food or alcohol or anything else, it was just the circumstances, so that's how she felt. She just felt sick every day. It was remarkable that she rallied to do so many things within that context."

    That enthusiasm also left an impression on Izzy's nurse, Krista Van Roestel.

    "You could just see her coming back day by day," she said. "We had to get her to slow down from riding her bicycle around the ward."

    Christmas may be just a week away, but it's something that may not have been possible for Izzy without the transplant.

    Now back home, the Tutsch family wants to pay the generosity forward, with Team Izzy currently fundraising to support the transplant program at .

    Altogether, the family says it has raised $100,000 in just one week.

    "Never discouraged, always smiling and laughing our dear Isabella taught us what strength was and in the darkest moments would come up with the brightest and wisest sayings to keep us steadfast," the fundraising page reads in part.

    According to , there are more than 1,500 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in Ontario, with one donor able to save up to eight lives.

    "But this is a generosity like no other," Elizabeth said.

    "Karen and her family will always be extremely important to us and be like another family. I mean, Izzy feels such a unique and special bond with her, and she's always talking about Karen's liver and getting used to her liver and getting used to her organs. It's really sweet, it's really sweet."

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