Maximum Age for Organ Donation

101-year-old Katherine Steck holding a flower arrangement. Katherine donated tissues after her passing.

Bert Steck was surprised to learn that his mother, Katherine, was a candidate for tissue donation. She was, after all, 101 years, five months, and three days old when she died in August 2022.

“I’m just proud she was able to do that.”

“My first reaction was that she was too old,” he said. “But she wasn’t, and we were very happy to hear that.”

What is the Age Limit for Organ Donation? There Isn’t One.

Age is not always a limiting factor for people wanting to be donors. Medical criteria change, and patients are evaluated by medical staff when it’s time to determine if a person’s organs and tissues are healthy enough to help others. One of the oldest organ donors on record was a 92-year-old man whose liver saved the life of a 69-year-old.

After consulting with his sister, Dorothea, Bert decided his mother would have wanted to help other people.

Man and woman standing in front of butterfly mural holding up photos of an elderly woman

Who Can Donate Tissue? 

Many donors can improve life for others with the gifts of skin, veins, nerves, bone, and corneas. Heart valves are considered lifesaving, and skin can save the lives of patients with severe burns. Like Katherine, potential donors are evaluated case-by-case to determine what they are eligible to give.

“She always said, ‘When I’m done with this body, it’s just a body. If someone can use it, they can use it,’” Bert said. Her gifts of tissue could help heal more than 75 people.

“She always showed a genuine interest in other people. When you talked with her, you felt like she cared [about] what you were doing,” he said. “It wasn’t perfunctory. She related to people like that.”

Katherine’s family is grateful she provided a legacy of kindness and generosity. 

Bert recently talked about the decision at his church as they were celebrating Katherine’s life. “One of the things we talk about at church is giving beyond your lifetime,” he said. “Normally, what we’re hoping for is a financial donation, but I used this as an example of my mom giving beyond her life. It’s another way of thinking of things.”

“I’m just proud that she was able to do that,” he added. “I wanted to tell everybody.”

Organ Donation

Read more in the Gift of LifeLINES newsletter

Read More Posts
Michael Love, two-time double lung transplant recipient, is a Gift of Life volunteer

Two-time lung recipient gives hope to those waiting for a miracle of their own

When Michael Love woke up groggy from his lung transplant surgery in 2015, he instinctively…

Read More
Dr. Tim Frankel is leading critical research into deadly pancreatic cancer with the help of organ donors from Gift of Life Michigan.

Gift of Life organ donors provide the ‘holy grail’ of pancreatic cancer research

Groundbreaking Michigan Medicine partnership ‘has the potential to help thousands’  Dr. Tim Frankel is in…

Read More
Donor mom Kathy Vogelsang holding a framed photo of her daughter, Rebecca

A donor mom becomes leader in the donation community

Kathy Vogelsang lends vision as chair of Gift of Life’s Governing Board  Kathy Vogelsang said…

Read More
Sheila Alston has worked as a nurse for more than 40 years

Sheila Alston has been saving and healing lives for 40 years

As a busy manager in Detroit-area hospital emergency departments back in the 1990s and early…

Read More
Tim Schramm holding a photo of his father, Ray, in military uniform

“Precious gifts saved my dad.”

One family’s story of tragedy, skin donation and 26 years of borrowed time Roy Schramm…

Read More
A donor is wheeled into Gift of Life's operating room on a gurney.

The Facts: The organ donation process

Making the decision to become an organ donor upon your death is the first step…

Read More
Scroll to Top