Saturday’s parade through downtown Suffolk will feature a face that was a familiar name in the local news nine years ago.

The entire Hampton Roads community came together in 2005 for Martina Natoli, a then-13-year-old who needed a double lung transplant because of her cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease that affects mostly the lungs but also other organs.

Through a variety of fundraisers — food sales, a Polar Bear Motorcycle Run, a Langley Speedway night, bracelets sold by her former classmates at Forest Glen Middle School and more — the community raised far more than the cost of the transplant, eventually helping to cover her medical expenses as she awaited the lifesaving organs, as well.

After a long wait, she finally got her new lungs in 2008.

Since then she and her mother have started their own jewelry business and she is enjoying life, said her grandmother, Dee Shannon, who still lives on Manning Road. Martina had moved to Virginia Beach shortly before her illness got worse.

“She’s just a walking little miracle,” Shannon said. “We wanted to give a thank you to the community. We thought it would be nice just to say a big thank you to everybody and thank you for what everybody did for Martina.”

Shannon said the family will be passing out gloves during the parade.

“It’s just to warm the hearts and the hands of the people that did so much for us,” Shannon said.

The parade will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday and will march up West Washington Street, turn left onto North Main Street and turn left again onto Prentis Street, where it will end at the grandstands.

The roads on the route will close at 6 p.m. Portions of Gittings Street, Bosley Avenue, South Broad Street, Linden Avenue and West Washington Street will close at 3:30 p.m. for units to begin lining up.

Public parking is available in many lots throughout downtown.