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THE BIG FREEZE

100 more Brits sign up to controversial Cryogenics Institute where 14-year-old Brit girl is being frozen for £37k in hope of being brought to life again

It's the stuff of science fiction but scientists are hopeful they will be able to wake their patients

A BUDGET cryogenics factory where a 14-year-old schoolgirl won the right to be frozen is set to take in 100 more Brits.

The teen cancer victim’s body is now packed in a 12ft container and stored at -196C beside up to five other corpses to conserve space at the Cryonics Institute in Michigan.

 A young British girl is just one of the patients now being kept at the Cryonics Institute in Oak Park, Michigan
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A young British girl is just one of the patients now being kept at the Cryonics Institute in Oak Park, Michigan

She is No143 of 145 human bodies at the US plant that also offers pets like cats and birds a second shot at life.

Company president Dennis Kowalski told The Sun the institute had scores of Brits signed up to join those frozen at the centre, some of whom are celebrities.

The 48-year-old, also a paramedic, said: “We have close to 100 people from the UK signed up for cryogenic suspension — the largest number outside the US.

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 The patients are cooled before arriving at the institute, with the bodies then undergoing a complex procedure to be kept at sub-freezing temperatures
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The patients are cooled before arriving at the institute, with the bodies then undergoing a complex procedure to be kept at sub-freezing temperatures

“We have very large containers that fit six people inside, plus other tissues. That’s how we are able to keep our ­prices affordable to the common man.

“We can have one person per container, but we can’t keep the cost down and it gets a lot more expensive.

“We just had a wealthier person who wanted a whole container for his family, kind of like buying family burial plots.”

The 14-year-old, thought to be the first British child to be cryogenically frozen, died last month.

She had been at the centre of a fierce legal battle between her divorced parents after her mother agreed to her wish to be frozen but her dad refused.

 Organisations like the Cryonics Institute are also in Arizona and Russia
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Organisations like the Cryonics Institute are also in Arizona and Russia
 Patients must pay USD $28,000 - £37,000 - to be kept in a tank of liquid nitrogen
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Patients must pay USD $28,000 - £37,000 - to be kept in a tank of liquid nitrogen
 More than 100 bodies are being kept at the facility - with hundreds more signing up for after they have died
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More than 100 bodies are being kept at the facility - with hundreds more signing up for after they have died

 

The father, who also has cancer, said: “It’s a nightmare. Even if the treatment is successful and she’s brought back in, 200 years, she may not find any relative and will be alone in the US.”

Justice Peter Jackson was called a “hero” by the teenager after he finally agreed to her dying wish so that one day she could “be cured and woken up”.

She had written a moving letter to the High Court explaining her reasons.

Her family spent £37,000 to keep her at the factory in Clinton Township, Michigan, but workers there said they could offer the service for as little as £22,500. US rivals charge up to £161,000.

The Sun visited the institute yesterday and found staff looking after the 145 bodies in thick white tanks.

 Scientists store human bodies at about -196C in liquid nitrogen in the hope they will be able to resuscitate their patients in the future
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Scientists store human bodies at about -196C in liquid nitrogen in the hope they will be able to resuscitate their patients in the futureCredit: Getty Images
 Even kidneys are kept frozen as part of the process
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Even kidneys are kept frozen as part of the processCredit: cryonics.org
 Fact or fiction? The concept of freezing bodies has become popular in science fiction including Star Trek
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Fact or fiction? The concept of freezing bodies has become popular in science fiction including Star TrekCredit: FOX 47 News
 A 14-year-old girl from London is one of about 150 people kept at The Cryonics Institute
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A 14-year-old girl from London is one of about 150 people kept at The Cryonics InstituteCredit: FOX 47 News

 

Remarkably for such a costly process, workers said the method for bringing the girl to the institute and preserving her body was relatively straightforward.

Dennis revealed most of the money handed over by families is moved into stocks and bonds, which grows an en­dowment fund and compounds interest.

He said: “That interest is what pays for the overheads like our taxes, utilities, salaries and the liquid nitrogen.

“Most people use their life insurance which makes it pretty affordable. Our prices haven’t gone up since we started in 1976. We are non-profit — all of our financials are on public record.”

 People have even signed up their pets to be frozen in the hope they will be able to extend their life
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People have even signed up their pets to be frozen in the hope they will be able to extend their life
 The process of cryogenics pins hopes on people in the future being able to revive the patients
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The process of cryogenics pins hopes on people in the future being able to revive the patients

Experts claim a device called a “heart-lung resuscitator” will get blood pumping through thawed patients’ bodies.

But the process is hugely controversial as it has never been possible to successfully revive a frozen mammal this way.

Dennis will also leave his body to the institute, which has 1,400 proposed patients signed up. He admitted:  “There are no guarantees in cryogenics.

 Liquid nitrogen is used in the process
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Liquid nitrogen is used in the processCredit: Getty Images

“The only guarantee is if you don’t use cryogenics, you get buried or cremated. Then you are guaranteed not to ever wake up in the future.

“With cryogenics it’s a scientific gamble. If it doesn’t work, at least we are advancing science by proving what’s not possible. The only way to find out what is possible is to run the tests.”

 Dr. Jerry Lemler, president and CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, is one such person hopeful the process will be a success
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Dr. Jerry Lemler, president and CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, is one such person hopeful the process will be a successCredit: Reuters

 

A future in store?

How system works

By MATT QUINTON

 

WHAT is cryopreser­vation?

The freezing of a corpse to -196C, with the intention of “reviving” the body  when technology has advanced sufficiently. Recently-deceased bodies are pumped with a type of anti-freeze then stored in special chambers.

 

Who is doing it and how much does it cost?

Largest players in the cryonics market are Al­cor in Arizona, the Cry­onics Institute in Mic­hi­gan and Russia’s KrioRus.  Prices can range from £28,000 to £160,000.

 

How long will it be before people can be brought back to life?

Cryonics supporters admit it could be hundreds of years before technology is sufficiently advanced — if ever. But many point to the remarkable steps forward in the last 50 years as a sign it might be sooner.

 

What are the chances of success?

Many experts say there is no chance. Even individual  organs like kidneys have never suc­ces­s­fully been frozen, thawed, and restored to working order. Yet supporters say future scientists may ov­ercome these obstacles.

 

How many people have been cryopreserved?

The Crionics Institute is home to 145 frozen humans. Alcor has 148 and KrioRus around 200. Thousands more have signed up for the service.

 

How does it work?

As soon as the body is pronounced dead, a cryotherapy team “stabilises” it by reducing its temperature and, sometimes, using an artificial heart to keep blood moving.

On the way to the cryogenics facility the body is packed in ice to prevent cell deterioration, then injected with  drug heparin to stop clots.

Once at the facility, workers remove all water and replace it with “cryoprotectants” —  a specially-formulated anti-freeze to minimise ice formation.

The body is then placed on dry ice to cool it  to -130C. Finally, it is lowered head-first into a metal tank cooled with liquid nitrogen at  -196C.


PROCESS 'STILL JUST SCIENCE FICTION'

A TOP biologist working on cryogenics praised its “amazing possibilities” while admitting that most of it is still science fiction.

Dr Joao Pedro De Mag­al­haes, who co-ordinates the UK Cryonics and Cryopreservation Research Net­work, said: “We know that cryopreservation can be carried out on cells like sperm or small organisms. In theory, you can use the same techniques on human beings.
“But it hasn’t been successfully done on large human organs like a heart or a liver. And as we can’t cryopreserve those, we obviously can’t cryopreserve humans.”
Dr de Magalhaes, who also leads the Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group at the University of Liverpool, added: “At the moment, it’s still science fiction. It’s unprovable.
“I would be pretty sceptical about the chances of someone being cryopreserved today ever being brought back to life again.
“But I am optimistic about advances in cryobiology, and I see no reason why we couldn’t carry this out in future — maybe to someone frozen in 100 years, or even sooner.
“That said, a century ago the technology we have now would have been seen as science fiction.
“And it could be that centuries from now, we will develop the technologies that are required.”
Even once the scientific obstacles are overcome, there are still problems.
Dr De Magalhaes said: “Patients might find themselves not just in a different culture, in a different time, but also possibly without friends or family.
“Some would see that as a new beginning. But that’s quite subjective.”