Elizebeth Langton/ Dallas Morning News

Just before Richardson Senior Golf League members Sam Ricks and Bob Scarborough met, they could barely walk 15 yards, much less play 18 holes.

Mr. Ricks, 66, and Mr. Scarborough, 61, formed a friendship seven years ago after both received heart transplants at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. They talk several times a week and sometimes play golf as often. And they share a passion for educating people about organ transplants.

Mr. Ricks, of Richardson, volunteers as a spokesman for the Southwest Transplant Alliance, the federally designated organ procurement agency for North Texas. Mr. Scarborough, who lives in Garland, often spreads the word on the Sherrill Park Golf Course.

" Every chance I get, I mention it. And of course everyone knows now that I had a transplant," he said of the senior league's 150 members. "We've had the second chance at life that most people don't have."

The retirees try to let others know about the success of transplant medicine and the lack of available organs.

" They're not really experimental medicine like a lot of people think. They're really routine now," Mr. Ricks said. "The real problem is the shortage of organ donors. We really need organ donors."

Seventeen people needing transplants in the United States die each day, according to the Southwest Transplant Alliance. As of Oct. 20, 5,822 Texans were waiting for donated organs, said Pam Silvestri, community education director for the alliance. About 1,500 transplants are performed in the state each year.

Personal stories shared by transplant recipients often do more to convince people than any other type of public education the alliance attempts, Ms. Silvestri said.

" I get the sense that these are the type of guys who can't stand in line at the grocery store without telling someone about their transplant," she said of Mr. Ricks and Mr. Scarborough.

When news broke in July about the deaths of four transplant patients who had received rabies-infected organs, friends and acquaintances peppered Mr. Ricks and Mr.Scarborough with questions.

The fatalities, which resulted from transplants performed at the Dallas hospital, were the first cases of rabies infection from internal-organ donation. No test exists that can detect rabies within the six hours that donated organs remain viable for transplant, Ms. Silvestri said.

" I would not be surprised if a [faster] test becomes available because of this," she said.
But given the rare occurrence of rabies infections in humans – about two cases per year – the chances remain extremely low that a transplant patient will contract the disease, Mr. Ricks said. And people on the transplant waiting list have no options, he said.

Both Mr. Ricks and Mr. Scarborough suffered from cardiomyopathy, a weakening
of the heart muscle that can lead to heart failure.

Mr. Scarborough sat in a recliner day and night as his illness progressed.

"Fifteen yards was a long walk," he said.

Although they take daily doses of antibiotics and anti-rejection medications and submit to quarterly blood tests and thorough annual physicals, both men said they feel healthier now than they did in the several years before their operations.

"I can do more than I could do before my transplant because I had gotten so weak, I could barely do anything," said Mr. Ricks, who took a trip last month to China. "I play golf; I've traveled a lot. I've always wanted to do it, and now I can, thanks to an organ donor."

New hearts also allowed both men to meet their grandchildren. Mr. Ricks has five, three of whom were born after his transplant. A sixth is due in January. Mr. Scarborough, a grandfather of six, has a new great-grandson.

"Without the heart transplant, I never would have known anything about [him]," said Mr. Scarborough, who met his donor's family last year. "I look at my donor's picture every day. I thank God every day for my donor family."

Mr. Ricks doesn't know his donor's identity.

"But I think about him every day," he said. "What more can you possibly say about someone responsible for you being alive?"

Mr. Ricks said most people fail to discuss organ donation, leaving families with wrenching decisions when confronted with a loved one's sudden death.

"People need to make sure their family understands their wishes," he said.

"Everybody who's received a transplant wants to be an organ donor, but it's hard for us to be organ donors."

The precipitating illnesses and anti-rejection medications often inflict damage to a transplant recipient's organs, making them unsuitable for transplant to others.

Mr. Scarborough said that if his organs cannot be transplanted, he wants his body donated for medical research.

"I want to give back as much as I can," he said.