MADISON, Wis. -- Athletes from across the country will compete in the 2010 National Kidney Foundation Transplant Games in Madison this weekend.

The event is making its first stop in Wisconsin. More than 1,200 organ transplant recipients, 560 donor families and nearly 250 living donors will attend. The four-day Olympic-style competition features 12 sports, ranging from track to badminton.

Not only are Transplant Games expected to bring in $2.6 million to local businesses, organizers said the games also help raise awareness about the need for more organ donors.

"With all the things that the (Transplant Games) brings to our community, that's really the No. 1 purpose. We want people to know that there really is a critical need for donors and to get themselves registered," said Krista Flanagan, Transplant Games organizer.

Currently, 1,600 Wisconsin residents are waiting for a transplant.

Opening ceremonies are set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Alliant Energy Center and are open to the public.

The games run until Tuesday.

Organizers said the games are about honoring both donor families and living donors, and it's also a chance for recipients to show their strength and growth since their transplants.

"The people that are competing are all transplant recipients, so people who were really at death's door, and now they're able to compete in an Olympic-style event. So they've been given their second chance at life," Flanagan said.

One of the athletes competing this weekend is McFarland resident Kurt Unterholzner.

Unterholzner said he's never missed the games since they began in 1990 and has competed eight times.

When he was in college, doctors discovered that he needed a kidney transplant.

Like his fellow competitors, Unterholzner has had many hurdles to overcome ever since.

"I had lost 40 pounds. I was sleeping 14 hours a day. I was on dialysis three days a week at that time. There's no way I could have imagined that it turned out the way that it did," he said.

After more than two years on dialysis, Unterholzner was able to get a transplant from his brother, who will get the chance to see him run in the 400 meter and 800 meter races in the games for the first time this year.

Meanwhile, the Restoring Hope Transplant House in Middleton is closer to reality ahead of the Transplant Games.

The Transplant House has been a work in progress for several years as organizers fundraised to make a comfortable home for families receiving transplants.

With help from the University of Wisconsin Hospital, the Transplant House is $100,000 closer to its goal.

"It's a great way to say the games are here, they'll come and they'll go, but the legacy and the foundation of this house will remain," said Cindy Herbst, executive director of the Restoring Hope Transplant House.

Herbst said it has always been the goal to open the house this weekend, and they have $100,000 left to meet their fundraising goal. She said they might be able to meet that fundraising goal after the games wrap up. That money will help with renovations and an addition at the house, WISC-TV reported.