A 14-year-old British teenager who suffered from a rare form of cancer requested to have her body cryogenically frozen in the United States after her death. Her case has just been passed, but many are still talking about the details.
The teenage girl wrote, “I have been asked to explain why I want this unusual thing done. I'm only 14 years old and I don't want to die, but I know I am going to. I think being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up, even in hundreds of years' time. I don't want to be buried underground.”
She continued by arguing that once “they” find a cure for cancer, they could then wake her up and cure her, thereby allowing her to live longer than just 14 short years.
Her statement ended with “This is my wish.”
The girl’s divorced parents have since gotten involved. Her mother supported her daughter with this legal endeavor while her father, who hasn’t seen his daughter for eight years, was more critical.
He initially disapproved of his daughter’s desire, writing, “she may not find any relative and she might not remember things and she may be left in a desperate situation given that she is only 14 years old and will be in the United States of America.”
After some debate, however, he changed his position and chose to support his daughter in the choices she wanted to make for herself – even after death.
Although now the entire family is in favor of the girl’s request, doctors are concerned of how the details will ultimately pan out.
The girl’s body was received by the Cryonics Institute in the United States about eight days after her death, and her body has since been cryogenically preserved, but there is still skepticism that the human body can be completely and perfectly preserved through this process.
Some body parts have been successfully preserved before, but other organs, like the kidney, are a little more concerning because of the lack of data.
Because none of us will likely be alive by the time this girl is set to be unfrozen, we can only hope that the complete process ultimately proceeds smoothly.
