NAPLES, Fla. - After 20 years of dedicating his life to saving lives, a Naples firefighter is forced to rely on others to save his daughter. Seven-year-old Hunter DiMaria needs a heart transplant, and now her dad's work family wants to help her get it.

Like many kids her age, Hunter likes to spend time in her family and play sports out in the yard, but congenital heart problems keep her from keeping up with other kids her age.

"The night she was born, they came in and told my wife, your daughter has heart problems," Hunter's father, Pete DiMaria says.

Since then, Hunter has been in and out of hospitals, enduring surgery after surgery. In the last few weeks, doctors decided she needs a heart transplant.

"It is kinda surreal, to think that someone has to lose a child for us to gain her life. It is hard to take," Pete says.

He is a battalion chief with the Naples Fire Department. For 20 years, he's dedicated himself to saving lives, but in this case, he doesn't have the power to save his daughter's alone.

"It is difficult. We kind of got to put our faith in someone else's hands, where a lot of time, people are putting their faith in our hands, to do the right thing to save them," he says.

With travel to Miami for treatment and medical expenses adding up, Naples Police and Firefighters are stepping up to help, by organizing a fundraiser.

"There's 120 of us who work in this building who are more than happy to help them out," Naples Police Detective Robert Young says.

"Words can't describe how thankful we are to everybody," Hunter's mother Ashley DiMaria says.

Hunter is fully aware or her heart problems, but she doesn't like to talk about them. Instead, she tells us what she wants to do when she gets better.

"Baseball and be a ballerina," Hunter says.

And with a successful transplant, Hunter should be able to do both just like other kids, in the future.

"The light at the end of the tunnel is gonna be a bright one," Ashley says.

The Hunter DiMaria benefit will be held from 5:00pm until 2:00am Saturday night at the Under the Shady Palm Pub on U.S. 41 near downtown Naples. Proceeds from food and drink sales will go to the Hunter's Helpers fund. There will also be a raffle and silent auction.