A small Maritime community came out in big numbers on Saturday to support a family and their little boy who is being treated at the IWK.

One person after another swabbed their cheeks in St. George, N.B., with hopes of finding a potential life-saving match for nine-year-old Zachary Shaw. 

His parents say the day comes with its good and bad days.

The town of St. George, N.B., hosted a swab event            

"We just did two or three weeks that were very rough,” said Jaret Wentworth, Zachary’s father. “But on a high note, we're home for a few days, which is always great. We head back next week, so we'll take what we can get right now."

On Saturday, their town was happy to offer a helping hand.

"I have an eight-year-old son and it's totally hitting home,” said St. George resident Courtney Frost. “I would want my community to pull together for this reason if that were my son."

The family was delighted that some potential donors came from well beyond St. George.

"Some have introduced themselves, have come from Hampton or Saint John, who I've never seen before,” said Zachary’s mother Courtney Shaw.

“It does my heart good."

Every participant will go on a worldwide registry. If they’re a match, they could be asked to donate healthy cells to a patient with cancer or some other illness.

"Their bad and good cells are destroyed with chemotherapy, and then they have the transplant of good, robust stem cells, and hopefully their body kicks in a takes over," said Dianne MacAdam of Canadian Blood Services.

Zachary's family says Saturday has brought an encouraging show of community support – a sign that the community is willing to help out a little boy here, or someone else in another county.

"If somebody steps in here today and becomes a match for some boy or girl in Australia or Peru, to know that they helped them and their family from devastation, that would be super cool to know that somebody who turned out for this. That would be amazing," said Wentworth.

The family says every additional person on the registry improves the odds for everyone.

"It helps, and if it doesn't help Zac, it will help somebody else around the world hopefully," said Shaw.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.