Molly McCullough/ Dallas News

They have a lot to be thankful for.

The three dozen people who gathered at the Optimist Club House in downtown Garland on Saturday were organ transplant recipients and their caretakers, kids and grandkids.

"We are all alive because we were given an organ, and some of us would not have made it another week," said Sheri George of Garland, who received a liver transplant April 19. "As we get ready to start the celebration of the holiday season, we should stop beforehand and say thank you to our donors, for the families and the choices they made about organ donation."

They grew close as they shared the transplant experience – months of waiting and testing, surgery, weeks of clinical rehabilitation and treatment to counter organ rejection – at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas.

"We became more than just a group of people who sat at the hospital waiting for this," Ms. George said. "We became a group of friends, and now they are all my family."

Dewey Wood led the group in prayer.

"I don't know about y'all, but when I got sick I came to the Lord," he said.

"I feel after going through a transplant and everything we've all had to go through, if you didn't believe in God before, you should now, simply because of what's involved in the skills that the surgeons had to learn and perform so we're still here."

Cliff Brown gave credit to his wife, Linda, and the other spouses.

"I just want to personally thank all the caregivers," he said. "Because I'm sure I speak for all of us transplantees that there's no way we could have gotten through this without y'all."

Sandra McQuitty of Seagoville will never forget the day her husband, Dan, got his transplant. It was April 22, the day before their 23rd wedding anniversary.

"I'm thankful that he's able to get up and do things," she said. "Before the transplant, the only thing he could do was take a shower, which was like an eight-hour job."

She works for JC Penney and was transferred from Odessa to Mesquite.

Otherwise they would have had to commute between Odessa and Dallas for her husband's treatment.

"The company was good," she said. "They worked with me real well."

Mr. McQuitty was devastated when his doctor told him he needed a transplant.

"I knew I was having liver problems, but I thought it would be, 'We'll medicate you, and you'll be OK,' " Mr. McQuitty said. "But he said, 'No, you're beyond that.' "

His improvement has been dramatic but not without complications.

"I feel a lot better than I did before it went in," he said. "I'm still having energy issues and a little pain and discomfort. I had a little bit of [organ] rejection. They expect that."

Ms. George said it is important that families not put off talking about being organ donors.

"You never know. My donor was 13 years old. He was killed in a hunting accident," she said. "You don't know what tomorrow will bring."

According to Pam Silvestri of Southwest Transplant Alliance, more than 80,000 people are on waiting lists for organ transplants nationally. An average of 17 people die every day in the United States because the organs they need don't become available in time.

Although 12,000 to 15,000 potential donors die each year, only about 6,000 actually donate organs, at an average of three to four organs per donor.

Call the transplant alliance at 214-522-0255 for more information about organ donation.