When UAF nursing student Teresa Best got word in 2004 that her bone marrow could be a match for a little boy in Alabama, she was shocked.

"I'd totally forgotten I'd signed up," she said.

Best, a 30-year-old UAF nursing student, finally got to meet Sam McGough, now 10-years-old, at Children's Hospital of Alabama during the "Call to Caring" bone and marrow drive Thursday. An organization for raising awareness of white-cell diseases donated the money for her flight.

"He's a man of few words," Best said of Sam.

She stayed with the McGough family and watched one of Sam's baseball games while she was there.

"They're great," she said of his family, which includes two brothers, 12 and 8. "They call me their hero."

Sam, of Hartselle, Ala., was born with congenital neutropenia, which greatly reduced his white blood cell count, making him susceptible to bacterial infections.

Best, originally from Lewistown, Mont., signed up for the National Marrow Donor Registry in 1996 at Fort Stewart, Ga. Her commanding officer had said that anyone who signed up would get out of physical training for the week.

"I wanted to sleep in," she said.

Best came to Fairbanks with the Army in 2000. She left the Army in 2002 and enrolled in classes at UAF in the spring of 2003. This is her first semester in the nursing program, which is done via videoconferencing with campuses at the Kenai campuses and has lab instruction through TVC.

The surgery to obtain her marrow took place in Washington, DC at Georgetown University Hospital.

The marrow used from Best was taken from her hipbone. She described it as a "drill and needle" type of surgery.

Her recovery was quick; she said she was walking around in Arlington National Cemetery the next day.

She said that the transplant has essentially cured Sam of the disease.

"He's stuck with my genetics," she said.

She recommended people sign up to be on the registry.

"I would totally recommend everybody to do it," she said.

According to the Children's Hospital, finding a suitable donor can be extremely difficult, especially in minority populations including African Americans, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Latinos, Pacific Islanders and Asians.

Only about 50 percent of them can find matches through the National Marrow Donor Program and its affiliates.

The event's focus was to find donors for the more than 30 children each year at Children's Hospital of Alabama who need bone marrow transplants, as well as thousands of other children and adults worldwide. Underlining the need for donors was another number: 300 children currently being treated for pediatric cancer and other blood diseases at that hospital alone, with another 150 diagnosed each year.

Kathy Bowers, media relations coordinator at Children's Hospital, said Best was an example of what bone marrow donors can do.

"This heartwarming story not only celebrates the miracles that take place every day at Children's Hospital, but also serves to underscore the urgent need for marrow donors and the importance of registering as a prospective donor," Bowers said in an e-mail.

Best said she "wouldn't hesitate to do it again."

"It's so easy to be checked," she said. "It's just a swab of two cheeks."