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AMHERST - Ryan Carter doesn't know who the boy is, where he lives, or almost anything else about him. He knows only that the 5-year-old is sick and Carter, a third-year sophomore defensive back for the University of Massachusetts football team, today will do what he can to save his life.
Like almost every member of the Minutemen, Carter is registered as a potential donor in the National Bone Marrow Registry. The Maryland native didn't think much about it when he swabbed the inside of his cheek two years ago as part of the annual drive by UMass to sign people to the registry.
"At first I was shocked. Is this real? Did I really get chosen?" Carter said. "Then I started getting almost excited. I get to save somebody's life. I get to be a part of helping this young kid live. ... There's seven billion people in the world and this one person needs something that I have. It really opens your eyes that this person could live or die depending on me."
