SALINAS, Calif. -  Hundreds turned out Saturday for a fundraiser and marrow donor drive for 12-year old Christopher Gomez. 

Gomez was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on February 2, 2005. ALL is the most common childhood cancers and in most cases curable. After relapsing three times, 12 year old Christopher is need of a bone marrow transplant to save his life. He's currently waiting for a donor and being treated at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. They have conducted an international bone marrow search, but so far have not been able to find a match.

The characteristics that determine whether a patient and donor match are inherited, so the most likely match is with a sibling. However, 70 percent of patients will not find a suitable matching donor in their family.

After filling out information forms, possible donors are given a simple test using a cotton swab on the inside of the mouth.  Test samples are then entered into a national registry.

To join the national registry and have a test kit sent to you, call (800) MARROW-2 or click on the website BeTheMatch.org.

To join Christopher's marrow drive online, enter- http://join.bethematch.org/chris2009