Child aged 7 signed up for freezing at cryogenics centre where British girl is frozen

November 21, 2016

Patients frozen to be woken up in the future may not remember their past
More children could sign up to procedure after 14-year-old girl is frozen
Concerns raised over the results of the procedure that costs around £40k

Jessica Duncan For Mailonline

Published:
05:46 EST, 20 November 2016

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Updated:
07:59 EST, 20 November 2016

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An expert from the cryogenic facility in Michigan, US, where a 14-year-old British girl has been frozen has revealed her and other patients may not remember their past life when they are woken up.

This has been revealed at the same time Cryonics UK, which prepares bodies for long-term freezing in the US, said it had “four or five” children who had expressed an interest.

An expert from the cryogenic facility in Michigan has said those patients woken up may not have memory of their past. Pictured, tanks at the facility are lined up and hold up to 6 people

Dennis Kowalski (pictured), president and CEO of Cryonics Institute in Michigan, said he did not believe memories would necessarily survive

A 14-year-old British girl was frozen last month after winning a legal battle and now other children are expected to sign up for the procedure. Pictured, this is the room where they slowly freeze the body down before they go into the tanks

Dennis Kowalski, president and CEO of Cryonics Institute in Michigan, said he did not believe memories would necessarily survive after the brain had been frozen for decades.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Kowalski said patients could wake up as a new clone of themselves without the same mind or memory. He believes the cryogenic process would damage the brain.

But Tim Gibson, 45, a leading member of Cryonics UK, admitted to The Sunday Times they have not put an age limit for those wanting to be frozen immediately after death with a child as young as seven previously showing an interest.

Tim Gibson believes that cryonics freezing people for preservation is a shot at life and Cryonics UK does not put an age limit on it

This is the room at the Cryonics Institute in Michigan where they slowly freeze the body down before they go into the tanks

The patient’s belongings are kept in these filing cabinets including photos, memorabilia and clothes

The father of the 14-year-old British girl, known only as ‘patient 143’, is still worried the firm have given “false hope”.

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She won a landmark legal battle to be cryogenically frozen after her death from cancer last month despite her parents being in dispute over their daughter’s request.

The Cryonics Institute has been slammed by the girls’ father who has accused its scientists of ‘selling false hope’ to terminally ill people and their families

Her father, who did not want her to be frozen, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I believe they are selling false hope to those who are frightened of dying – taking advantage of vulnerable people.

‘When I asked if there was even a one in a million chance of my daughter being brought back to life, they could not say there was.

‘I think it would be doubly impossible to both bring her back from the dead and cure her cancer, and companies should not hold out some false hope.’

Andy Zawacki works at the facility and looks after the tanks. Pictured giving a tour of the facilities in Detroit, Michigan

The father told the High Court: ‘Even if the treatment is successful and she is brought back to life in, let’s say, 200 years, she may not find any relative and she might not remember things.

‘She may be left in a desperate situation – given that she is still only 14-years-old – and will be in the United States of America.’

Plea: The teenage girl wrote a moving letter to the High Court explaining the reasons why she wanted to be cryogenically frozen

High Court judge Mr Justice Jackson granted her dying wish and the girl was ‘cryopreserved’ after her death on October 17 in a procedure costing her maternal grandparents £37,000 to which they raised by selling property.

The expensive procedure has to start immediately after the person dies. Within the first 15 minutes the body has be packed in ice and injected with a chemical to reduce blood clotting. After being taken to the cryonics facility and cooled to just over freezing blood is replace with a solution to preserve organs. Another solution is then injected to stop ice crystals forming and the body is out into a tank of liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius.

Visiting the facility in US, as well as including humans and pets, there is a room of filing cabinets full of photos, DVDs and keepsakes belonging to the people frozen there, for when and if they are woken up. Operations manager Andy Zawacki checks the cloudy liquid nitrogen levels daily through a peep hole.

Dennis Kowalski, president of the Cryonics Institute, denied it was taking advantage of anyone or profiting from people’s fears.

He said the institute was ‘a nonprofit organisation’ adding that they gave ‘no guarantees’ it would ever work, but said even the smallest chance of returning to life was better than the alternative ‘which is zero’.