When she got the phone call, Courtney Gaddis’ response was immediate.

"’Whaaat? That’s crazy. All right!’" was what Gaddis, a junior guard on the Hawaii women’s basketball team, recalled saying to a woman with the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry. The news: She was a genetic match to donate marrow to an ill 4-year-old boy.

The boy has leukemia, a disease or cancer of the bone marrow and blood. So on Oct. 12, Gaddis went to the Hawaii Medical Center and successfully had the operation to extract marrow as a transplant for the child.

Gaddis doesn’t know his name or where he lives. That wasn’t a factor. The information she’s really craving is some good news when she’s updated on his condition in two to three more weeks.

Some registered marrow donors, when they get the call, don’t follow up with an actual donation. Not so for Gaddis, who is in the pre-med program at UH and wants to be a pediatrician.

"Right off the bat, I knew I was going to do it. I didn’t have to think about it, really," Gaddis said.

It’s been a big couple of months for Gaddis, a former walk-on who was granted a scholarship by UH coach Dana Takahara-Dias at the start of the fall semester because of her hard work.

That was about the same time she got the call.

HER CHANCE to save a life was created about two years ago, when she saw fliers for a drive to help save a UH student who had leukemia. She didn’t hear back about it then. Some people never do. But for her it was just a matter of time, as she was a high-demand donor.

Gaddis’ diverse ancestry — her father is mixed Caucasian and her mother is Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Filipino, Spanish and Japanese — was critical in the genetic match. Gaddis was told the chances of the boy finding a match in the registry was "like 1 percent."

She was screened for any risks beforehand, and was given the all-clear. The operation itself lasted about half an hour, though she remained in the hospital overnight.

"Basically what they do is they drill two small holes on each side of your pelvis, on your back. And they take a long needle and they syringe out the bone marrow," she explained.

Though it was a smooth operation, its preparation and aftermath was draining for the 5-foot-11 Kalani High graduate, who transferred to UH from Division III Whitworth (Wash.) in 2008. Just a day or two away from the running-intensive Rainbow Wahine preseason could prove costly to a player, and the first practice Gaddis tried to delve back into sprints was a shock to her system. But she’d never call it a setback.

"Not many people understand the gravity of what she did. And what it took out of her," Takahara-Dias said. "Because she lost a week and a half of basketball, which she truly loves.

"We told her, that is not a problem at all. We will wait as long as it takes for you to return. You cannot compare any time value to saving a life."

IT WAS painful, but Gaddis somehow managed to dance with her team in their introduction for the UH Ohana Hoopfest just four days after her operation and three days after getting out of the hospital.

Her teammates are still awed.

"She’s such a kind-hearted person," senior forward Allie Patterson said. "It was just unbelievable, eye-opening … that she was able to help a little kid, (hopefully) save his life. Amazing. Just really heartwarming. Very proud of her."

Her father, James, flew in to visit her from California shortly after the operation. He wasn’t surprised in the least about her decision.

"Some people are just born to be giving, kind people," he said. "That’s the way it’s always been since she was a little kid."

Gaddis is in the process of getting some teammates to register. Takahara-Dias said the Wahine hope to host the boy at a game one day, should his family disclose his identity following a successful donation.

"I would definitely, definitely encourage people to register. Give people hope," Gaddis said. "Because the people who go to the donor registry to look for a donor, that’s like their last chance of survival, basically."

Being alternately "stiff, tense, numb and tired," as she described it, was a small price to pay.

For information on how to join the Be The Match Registry, visit marrow.org.