Many people die each year because of the lack of matching bone-marrow donors.
Bone marrow drives encourage people to put their names into the National Marrow D onor Program registry by donating a small amount of blood that may one day match up with someone fighting for his or her life. However, everyone is encouraged to sign up because a person's life could one day hinge on someone having a matching bone-marrow type and being registered with the NMDP registry. Senior Airman Brian Baumgartl, a time-utilization manager at the 1st Medical Support Squadron here, recently found himself in this exact situation. Baumgartl and his wife, Jennifer, signed up four years ago, before he joined the Air Force, at a bone-marrow drive in Maine. They gave their names and blood samples, and were added to the registry.