Many of us won't ever get the chance to be at the right place at the right time to save another person's life.

But an area Cancer Center is hoping to change that.  This Tuesday the Cary Cancer Center will hold its first Bone Marrow drive.  If you would like to sign up to be in the National Marrow Donor Program, the Cary Cancer Center in Hannibal is holding a free drive this Tuesday from 2 until 6 p.m.  No appointments are necessary and it's easy to sign up.  All it takes is a Q-tip swab of your mouth and a brief medical history to find out if you are a match to someone suffering from leukemia.

Bone Marrow donors are in high demand.  In fact every day six thousand people search national registries looking for a match to extend their lives.

A Palmyra man says he owes his life to a stranger he had never met.

Several years ago Mike Goodwin was experiencing some cramping in his legs and was feeling wiped out all the time. After a series of tests and doctors...he learned he had Myelodysplastic Syndrome.

What was your reaction when you found out you had a form of leukemia?

Goodwin said, "It couldn't be me. I didn't think something like this could happen to me."

He went through a myriad of treatments from blood transfusions to chemotherapy.

Goodwin said, "I was constantly scared that things weren't going to work out. I said I'm too young to die. I tried to keep a positive attitude all the time but sometimes it didn't work."

Then Dr. Arif Bari a Hematologist and oncologist at the Cary Cancer Center suggested a bone marrow transplant. Goodwin went to the National Bone Marrow Donor Program and found a donor in Michigan..a 33 year old woman willing to help. After 7 days of chemotherapy to make his body susceptible to the new marrow... Goodwin got his marrow transplant and the gift of life from a person he'd never met.

Goodwin After the transplant everything has been very good. I'm a new person full of energy and I can go on with my life now.

After a year Goodwin and his wife Becky were able to contact the donor

Goodwin said, "When I got to meet her I told her she was my angel. I told her you don't realize what you did for me. She saved my life."

Goodwin says he's one of the lucky ones. A seven year old boy in the hospital at the same time as him died waiting for a match.

Goodwin said, "I've had several people during this ordeal say if there's anything we can do let us know. Well they could be a donor and save someone else's life."