A terminally ill neuroscience student has achieved her dying wish of being cryogenically frozen, thanks to the help and exposure of online community and news site Reddit. The 23-year-old, who had terminal brain cancer, took to the website last August in order to ask members to help her raise the money for cryogenics following her death, in the hopes that we may one day have the technology to revive her. Between the funds raised by Reddit and by a volunteer group that raises funds for cryopreservation called The Society for Venturism, they raised enough money to secure Suozzi’s spot with Alcor (probably the most well known cryopreservation firm). The money came through just in time, as Suozzi passed away on January 17th.
“Our hope is that technology will continue to progress to the point that Kim may have a real chance of living again in the future,” said Suozzi’s boyfriend in a statement given to Alcor. “Unfortunately, the development of the requisite technologies could be decades or centuries away. Since Kim is no longer with us to explore and innovate in the field of neuroscience, she is counting on all of us to push for the innovations she had hoped to see in her lifetime. Until (or unless) the day comes that Kim can be brought back, remember her, celebrate her, and emulate her resilience, so we can create the future of her dreams. Nobody is too young to make cryopreservation arrangements.”
Cryogenic preservation costs anywhere between $28,000 and $200,000, though the exact amount raised for Suozzi’s preservation has not been released.
[Via The Verge]
____
Megan Patterson is the Science and Technology Editor at Paper Droids and currently a Toronto Standard intern. She has also written for WORN Fashion Journal, Elevate, and Salon Magazines. She also tweets more than is healthy or wise.
For more, follow us on Twitter at @torontostandard and subscribe to our Newsletter.
