Cherry Valley-area residents will hold a fundraiser for 6-year-old Grace Utter from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at 163 Main St. in the village.
Grace has failing kidneys and is scheduled to have an operation to have them removed next week at Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts, according to her mother, Jodi Utter.
After that, the girl will be dependent on dialysis to filter her blood until she receives a donated kidney.
``She'll go on the list for a kidney Aug. 1,'' said her mother.
In recent months, the Utters, who operate a dairy farm in Sprout Brook, have been driving to Albany for Grace's dialysis sessions and may soon be commuting to Boston.
``After the transplant, the doctors want to see her twice a week for two months, then once a week for two months, and then once every other week for two months,'' Jodi Utter said. ``So we're going to be on the road a lot.''
Saturday's event will be a combination lawn and bake sale held at the home of Lynette Lyons.
``We have a lot of things to sell, even animals,'' she said. ``We have a goat and guinea pig.''
Lyons said others in the community, including Deb Crosby, Melissa Davidson and Kaitlyn Graham, are helping to organize the Memorial Day weekend sale.
``We'll be selling special T-shirts and hats, and we'll have food, too,'' said Lyons, a friend of the Utter family.
When the Utters go to Boston, they'll have to make their own arrangement for a place to stay, Lyons noted.
``They have a Ronald McDonald House there, but it's only for the families of pediatric cancer patients,'' she said.
Grace has a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. According to the Nephcure Foundation, ``FSGS is a type of glomerular disease, one of many diseases that affect kidney function by attacking the glomeruli, the tiny units within the kidney where blood is cleaned.
``Glomerulosclerosis ... describes the scarring or hardening of the tiny blood vessels within the kidneys,'' the website states.
Jodi Utter said the condition could damage a donated kidney, too, but by removing the girl's kidneys now and relying exclusively on dialysis, that risk is lessened.
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