Richard Abshire / Dallas Morning News

Sheri George's new life began Monday with a liver transplant at Baylor University Medical Center.

"I now have a new birthday – April 19," she said. "I have white eyes! I'm like a miracle kid walking around up here."

The date couldn't be more appropriate, because April is National Donor Awareness Month.

Ms. George has been battling liver disease for 13 years, and doctors told her that someday it would come down to a transplant.

It was her only hope, and time was not her friend.

She had all the symptoms – confusion, yellowish skin, discoloration in the eyes, muscle loss, abdominal swelling and painfully swollen ankles.

She had recently left her job as a marketing representative at Wharry Engineering.

Gone were her active days in the Optimist Club of Garland, Hadassah and Tiferet Israel Synagogue, and her participation in the citizen police and fire academy alumni groups, and the Garland Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. George's husband, Jimmy George, said Monday's transplant was like having
a baby.

"I'm the proud papa of a brand new liver," he said.

The wait was like that, too. Ms. George lived with her cellphone in hand and her bags packed, waiting for the call.

She had been on a list for a liver transplant since November.

"I'm either Number One or Number Two," she said Friday.

There are about 17,000 people in the country on a liver transplant list, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network.

Ms. George's call came about 3 a.m. Monday.

She woke Mr. George up by screaming, "They have my liver! They have my liver!"

Tuesday, she was a new woman in a hospital room filled with family and flowers from her many friends.

The Georges were grateful to the doctors and nurses at Baylor and especially to the donor and the donor's family.

"We want to see people get on the donor list," Mr. George said. "Just getting your driver's license done is not enough. You have to carry a donor's card and make your wishes known to the people who are going to make the decision if you can't. Don't be afraid to talk about it."

Donor cards can be printed from several Web sites, including www.donatelife.net , www.organ.org and www.organdonor.gov.

But if you don't carry a card, you can still be a lifesaving donor.

"The most important thing is to tell your family – or whoever will be making decisions – that you want to donate your organs and tissues," said Pam Silvestri of Southwest Transplant Alliance. "That's all you have to do. You don't have to fill out a donor card or have a sticker on your driver's license."

The alliance, founded in 1974, is one of the 59 regional organ procurement and sharing organizations that serve as official links between donors and recipients, operating in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"More than 83,000 people in the U.S. are on a wait list for lifesaving organ transplants," Ms. Silvestri said. "While more than 50 people receive transplants each day, an average of 17 people die every day because the organs they need don't become available in time."

Only people who die in hospitals while on ventilators can be deceased donors, because the organs must have a constant oxygen supply until they are removed for transplant. There are about 20,000 such deaths each year. Many of those are excluded from the donor process for medical reasons, leaving 12,000 to 15,000 who are suitable. About 6,000 become donors.

"Nationally, consent rates are about 50 percent when families are approached about organ donation when a loved one dies," Ms. Silvestri said.

Each donor provides three to four organs on average, which makes possible more than 20,000 transplants annually.

"We feel very blessed that our consent rates are above national averages in most of the areas we cover," Ms. Silvestri said. "Organ donation was up 7 percent in Dallas from 2002 to 2003, while the national rate improved 4.8 percent."