TIFTON — A fall festival benefitting a local 9-year-old in need of a kidney transplant is set for Saturday, Oct. 20.

The Fall Festival runs from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Connor Park, located at 420 Baldwin Dr, near the Recreation Department in Tifton.

The event is being held for Trinity LaCara Brooks, who has been on dialysis since April and is awaiting a kidney transplant.

Brandy Brooks, Trinity’s mother, said that she was diagnosed with multicystic dysplastic kidney disease when she was born.

“We knew she was going to have it before she was born because of ultrasounds,” Brandy said.

Multicystic dysplastic kidney disease (MCDK) is a condition that results from the malformation of the kidney during fetal development. The kidney consists of irregular cysts of varying sizes. Multicystic dysplastic kidney is a common type of renal cystic disease, and it is a cause of an abdominal mass in infants.

Trinity has been seeing Dr. Luis Ortiz, a pediatric nephrologist at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta since she was two weeks old, said Brandy.

“This April, her kidney finally failed,” said Brandy.  “She started having some complications with things and we had to go back and forth to Augusta. That’s when her kidney completely failed and she got put on dialysis.”

The dialysis port, which Trinity needs so she can be hooked up to an at home dialysis machine for 10 hours every night while she sleeps, was put in on April 10.

Trinity now needs a kidney transplant.

Brandy said that they’ve been looking for a donor and may have found one: Brandy’s cousin.

Neither of Trinity’s parents can donate a kidney due to health reasons, but they are hopeful that Brandy’s cousin will be able to. They’re waiting on the last tests to be completed to find out and should find out the status within a month, said Brandy.

“We go back and forth to Augusta to meet with the transplant team and to the dialysis center,” Brandy said. “We’re hoping she’s going to get a transplant soon.”

She said that seven or eight people have volunteered to donate, it’s just a matter of finding a match and making sure the potential donor is healthy enough to donate.

“She’s always been spunky,” she said. “If I could compare her to anyone it would be Michelle Tanner from Full House. She still has that happy attitude. Just to see her, you’d never know (she’s on dialysis) unless she showed you or told you. She’s happy as she can be. She doesn’t meet a stranger.”

Brandy said that while Trinity said she didn’t want a kidney transplant because she was scared of having surgery, after getting on dialysis she wants to have the surgery.

The fall festival will have bounce houses, a hay ride, obstacle course, touch-a-truck, dunking booth and games.

The family is also doing raffles, one for a stay at a cabin and another for a grill, to raise money.

The money raised will help with transportation and other expenses, such as food and lodging.

“The transplant team encourage (you) to raise as much money as you can for post-transplant,” Brandy said. “Anything could come up after transplant, like insurance fails to pay for something. Right now we go up (to Augusta) one or two times a month, but right before transplant and right after transplant we’re going to have to go once a week to Augusta for three months. So (the fundraiser) is going to help out with stuff like that.)

Follow Eve Copeland on Twitter @EveCopelandTTG.