In a life span of more than 100 years, Dale Steele lived an active life as a hardworking farmer and military veteran.
Steele was fit and healthy, which partially explains his longevity, but even his son was shocked when an organ procurement organization approached him about donating his father’s organs after his death on Feb. 11.
“‘We’d like your dad to donate his liver,’ and when she said that, I said, ‘He’s over 100 years old,’” Roger Steele told KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska.
Despite being over the century mark, the elder Steele’s liver was in fine shape. Healthy enough to save someone else’s life. So, on Feb. 12, the day after he died, Dale Steele became the nation’s oldest organ donor. Orville Allen, 98, of Missouri, had been the oldest organ donor until Steele eclipsed him by two years.
Hard Work, Healthy Living
Steele was put on life support last month after suffering a head injury. That’s when Live On Nebraska, an organ procurement foundation based in Omaha, showed interest in using the veteran’s liver for transplant.
Count it as one more opportunity for Steele to give back in a life of service.
A native of Ainsworth, Nebraska, Steele was drafted into the military, serving in World War II. He helped liberate concentration camps and served as a guard at the Nuremberg Trials, watching Nazi leaders face prosecution for war crimes.
He grew up during the Great Depression in rural Nebraska farm country, so hard work and sacrifice weren’t foreign to Steele.
“He was a gentleman in the full sense of the word,” Roger Steele said.
Roger believes the key to his father’s long life was physical labor and fresh, nutritious food grown on the farm. He farmed most of his life and frequently consumed the vegetables he fostered in his garden. He was married to his wife for 72 years.
“He came from an age when people worked very hard, and I think that’s a substitute for fitness as we define it today,” Roger Steele said.
Liver Regeneration
Turns out age matters little to liver donation, according to Live On Nebraska. Overall health is a more prominent measuring stick because of the liver’s unique ability to regenerate cells, even as a person ages.
Dr. Lee Morrow, chief medical officer for Live On Nebraska, said that due to frequent cell rejuvenation, the liver from a donor is really only a few years old, even if the person is 100 like Steele.
“Your liver is about 3 years old, my liver is about 3 years old, and that 100-year-old donor, his liver was about 3 years old,” Morrow said.
Advancements in medical technology have also helped expand organ donation capabilities. Donor procurement foundations have been utilizing warm blood perfusion on kidney donations for several years, opening the door for the same procedure to assist with liver transplants.
“If you go back in time just a few years ago, we weren’t really doing organ donors over 65,” Morrow said.
Since Steele’s donation, the person who received the veteran’s liver has not contacted the Steele family, according to Roger. However, hospital officials did say the recipient’s surgery went well, and they were able to leave the hospital only five days after the transplant.
For Roger, the experience was a revelation. He plans to become an organ donor so he too can help someone just like his father did.
To learn more about becoming an organ donor, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Transplantation.
