SALINAS, Calif. -- A 19-year-old Cabrillo College student is battling a rare heart condition called cardiomyopathy, and his family is hoping a heart donor can be found.

Joe Matthews is studying digital media at Cabrillo, but he's now at Stanford Medical Center in an induced coma.

Matthews is among the more than 90,000 people on waiting lists for an organ transplant. Each day, an average of 17 people on these lists die.

California has three times as many transplant candidates as any other state. Last year, the state launched the first online donor registry, Donate Life California.

"Each of us can go there, sign and record our wishes to be a donor to save lives through organ donations. We can record our wishes and have those wishes honored at the time of our death," said David Henegan of The California Transplant Network.

So far, 235 people have signed up with the registry. That's less than 1 percent of the state's population.

Matthews condition can result from any number of things, including viral infection, which is what doctors believe caused Matthew's heart to shut down.

Family members said if Matthews doesn't have a heart transplant in the next few weeks, he likely will not survive.

For more information on becoming an organ donor:

Stanford University Hospital & Clinics: www.stanfordhospitals.com

California Transplant Donor Network: (888) 570-9400 or www.ctdn.org

American Heart Association: www.americanheart.org