A Polk County nonprofit is gearing up for its biggest fundraiser of the year, all to help bring smiles back to children facing serious health battles.

Twelve-year-old Dakota Shouse has battled major health issues her entire life, including a severe heart defect that required open heart surgery when she was six months old.

It makes me a little sad because I can't see my friends, Shouse said.

Watch full report from Rebecca Petit

And earlier this year, doctors found a golf-ball-sized brain tumor that they were unable to remove.

Since I was little, we never knew there was a brain tumor, but we knew I had a half heart and it kind of messed with me for a little, Shouse said.

Shouse is one of dozens of Polk County children whose lives have been touched by C.A.R.S. Racin for a Dream, a nonpr

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