Age Function Help

[SheSaidImaPregy]

Here is the code I am using now. What I have is a datalist that pulls DateofBirth and Dead values from the database. The Dead values only equal Yes or No, but will later equal 0 or 1. I cannot seem to figure out how to do an if statement that allows the DateDiff to become a string of Deceased. Below is what I am trying to do:

Public Function Age(ByVal DOB As System.DateTime, ByVal Death As String) As Long
Dim CurrentDate As System.DateTime = System.DateTime.Today
if Death = "No" then
    Select Case Month(DOB)
        Case Is < Month(System.DateTime.Today)
            Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now())
        Case Is = Month(CurrentDate)
            Select Case Day(DOB)
        Case Is < Day(CurrentDate)
                Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now())
        Case Is = Day(CurrentDate)
                Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now())
        Case Is > Day(CurrentDate)
                Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now()) - 1
    End Select
        Case Is > Month(CurrentDate)
            Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now()) - 1
        Case Else
               Age = 0
                Age.ToString()
	End Select
ElseIf Death = "Yes" then
    Age = "Deceased"
Else
    'What I have tried is below for the ElseIf portion and the Else portion
    '(1)    Age.ToString() = "Deceased or Unknown"
    '(2)    String.Age = "Deceased or Unknown"
    '(1&2)  Dim Age As String
    '(3)    Response.Write "Deceased or Unknown" (this works, but writes to the top of the document.)

    Age = "Unknown"
End if
End Function

The errors I get are "Age is not a component of 'String', and Age is not in format of DateTime (or whatever it says), and System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.

How do I get this to display the string without having to use a label, like: <asp:Label runat="server" /> and then just setting the text properties and the visible properties. I can do it that way, but would prefer not to. Any suggestions on how to convert that to a string and have it write without using a control? Thanks.

[SheSaidImaPregy]

Nevermind, I realized what I did. I made Age a Long instead of a String so it wouldn't accept the format. This works, the code below:

Public Function Age(ByVal DOB As System.DateTime, ByVal Death As String) As String
Dim CurrentDate As System.DateTime = System.DateTime.Today
if Death = "No" then
	Select Case Month(DOB)
		Case Is < Month(System.DateTime.Today)
			Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now())
		Case Is = Month(CurrentDate)
			 Select Case Day(DOB)
				 Case Is < Day(CurrentDate)
					Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now())
				 Case Is = Day(CurrentDate)
					Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now())
				 Case Is > Day(CurrentDate)
					  Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now()) - 1
			 End Select
		Case Is > Month(CurrentDate)
			Age = DateDiff("YYYY", DOB, Now()) - 1
		Case Else
			Age = 0
			Age.ToString()
	End Select
Else
	If Death = "Yes" then
		Age = "Deceased"
	Else
		Age = "Unknown"
	End if
End if
End Function