Around 6,000 bone marrow transplants are done every year nationwide, but the need is growing - and it hits close to home for a six-year old Broadus girl needing bone marrow.

Kenna Emmons has combined immune deficiency syndrome and is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.

Her mother Kimber explained, "Kenna's immune system is present in her body, but it doesn't function correctly at all."

Although Kenna's been sick for five years now, she was officially diagnosed in May of 2008 with the deficiency, which gets progressively worse as she ages.

And out of of the 13 million registered worldwide bone marrow donors, Kenna matched just one - and that one match fell through due to donor complications just before the transplant.

Kimber said, "We are still searching, hoping for that life-saving match, just to give Kenna the opportunity to...um, very literally, make it past the age of ten, because without one, there's a very good chance that she won't."

Kenna and Kimber have made six trips to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. She's on daily medication and gets infusions every couple of weeks. But Kenna is a fighter and very brave: "I've been jabbed like hundreds of times...a lot...and I'm not afraid of needles anymore."

The Emmons have made trips all over the country for Kenna's cause and will continue to tirelessly search for her match.

You can learn more about bone marrow donation at the National Marrow Donor Program website. Be sure to enter the promotion code BTMM49 when you register.

In addition to the food, fun, and festivities at the Montana State Fair, there's also an opportunity to help save a life. Around 6,000 bone marrow transplants are done every year nationwide, but the need is growing - and it hits close to home for a six year old Broadus girl needing bone marrow.

She and other Montanans need your help to find a match, and you can find out if you're a match during the fair. Initial testing consists of a simple cheek swab, and you can do it at the bone marrow donor booth in the Mercantile Building during the fair - but you must be between 18 and 60 years old.

Eileen Damone of the Montana Marrow Program explained, "If you're the one chosen, that means you're one in 12 million, which makes you pretty special...and marrow is renewable...it grows back. It truly is a living gift of life."