\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA 97-year-old Pennsylvania woman has made history as the state\u2019s oldest organ donor and the third oldest in U.S. history. A final gift of lifePeggy Fields, a lifelong volunteer from Western Pennsylvania, donated her liver upon her death, giving life to a woman in Florida.Her family and the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) hope her story inspires others to sign up as donors during National Donate Life Month. \u201cShe was always volunteering and giving. So, this was her final way to give. So that\u2019s what I think. It makes me very proud,\u201d said her daughter, Linda Kirk. A life of serviceFields spent her life giving back, serving others through her church, community and historical societies, and as a Girl Scout leader in Plum, Pennsylvania.Kirk said her mother changed the lives of many young girls for the better and chose to become a donor later in life as one more way to help others. Age is not a barrierInitially, Kirk was skeptical about the value of her mother\u2019s organs at age 97, but she was proven wrong. \u201cHer liver, so that went to a woman here in Florida. And there were other things that they gathered, but it, the organ was the liver,\u201d Kirk said. \u201cI was just like, that\u2019s something that everybody should know, that you don\u2019t have to be a young spring chicken to donate something. That you can be, you know, 97, and donate something to somebody who really needs it,\u201d she added. CORE said Fields\u2019 story helps dispel the myth that people can be too old to donate, even organs as vital as the liver. \u201cThey want to know that, you know, the last thing they do in their life would be to do something for somebody else and to give their own families this legacy. They just think that they\u2019re too old,\u201d said Katelynn Metz of CORE. A historic distinction\u201cThe oldest is actually one 100 years old now from Nebraska. But Peggy holds the distinction of being Pennsylvania\u2019s oldest donor, the oldest female donor in history, and the third oldest donor in the history, just all together,\u201d Metz added. A message for National Donate Life MonthDuring National Donate Life Month, Kirk hopes her mother\u2019s story encourages others to say yes to donation. \u201cIt\u2019s a really good thing. And I think, you know, people should just … go ahead and do it,\u201d Kirk said. One organ donor can save up to eight lives, and tissue and cornea donation can heal and improve the lives of many more.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A 97-year-old Pennsylvania woman has made history as the state\u2019s oldest organ donor and the third oldest in U.S. history. <\/p>\n
A final gift of life<\/p>\n
Peggy Fields, a lifelong volunteer from Western Pennsylvania, donated her liver upon her death, giving life to a woman in Florida.<\/p>\n
Her family and the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) hope her story inspires others to sign up as donors during National Donate Life Month. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe was always volunteering and giving. So, this was her final way to give. So that\u2019s what I think. It makes me very proud,\u201d said her daughter, Linda Kirk. <\/p>\n
A life of service\t<\/p>\n
Fields spent her life giving back, serving others through her church, community and historical societies, and as a Girl Scout leader in Plum, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Kirk said her mother changed the lives of many young girls for the better and chose to become a donor later in life as one more way to help others. <\/p>\n
Age is not a barrier<\/p>\n
Initially, Kirk was skeptical about the value of her mother\u2019s organs at age 97, but she was proven wrong. <\/p>\n
\u201cHer liver, so that went to a woman here in Florida. And there were other things that they gathered, but it, the organ was the liver,\u201d Kirk said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was just like, that\u2019s something that everybody should know, that you don\u2019t have to be a young spring chicken to donate something. That you can be, you know, 97, and donate something to somebody who really needs it,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
CORE said Fields\u2019 story helps dispel the myth that people can be too old to donate, even organs as vital as the liver. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to know that, you know, the last thing they do in their life would be to do something for somebody else and to give their own families this legacy. They just think that they\u2019re too old,\u201d said Katelynn Metz of CORE. <\/p>\n
A historic distinction<\/p>\n
\u201cThe oldest is actually one 100 years old now from Nebraska. But Peggy holds the distinction of being Pennsylvania\u2019s oldest donor, the oldest female donor in history, and the third oldest donor in the history, just all together,\u201d Metz added. <\/p>\n
A message for National Donate Life Month<\/p>\n
During National Donate Life Month, Kirk hopes her mother\u2019s story encourages others to say yes to donation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really good thing. And I think, you know, people should just … go ahead and do it,\u201d Kirk said. <\/p>\n
One organ donor can save up to eight lives, and tissue and cornea donation can heal and improve the lives of many more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 97-year-old Pennsylvania woman has made history as the state\u2019s oldest organ donor and the third oldest in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[74291,35345,35343,105,69025,74298,14119,74292,74299,74297,74294,74296,11718,74293,28,30,29,49682,74295,3839,2404,1419,2184],"class_list":{"0":"post-164871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-97-year-old-pennsylvania-woman","9":"tag-center-for-organ-recovery-and-education","10":"tag-core","11":"tag-life","12":"tag-linda-kirk","13":"tag-liver","14":"tag-mother","15":"tag-national-donate-life-month","16":"tag-old-donor","17":"tag-old-organ-donor","18":"tag-oldest-organ-donor","19":"tag-organ-recovery","20":"tag-other","21":"tag-peggy-fields","22":"tag-pennsylvania","23":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","24":"tag-pennsylvania-news","25":"tag-plum","26":"tag-state-history","27":"tag-story","28":"tag-volunteer","29":"tag-western-pennsylvania","30":"tag-woman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}