Matheryn Naovaratpong is the youngest cryogenized person. She is a two-year-old Thai girl who died due to cancer in her brain and her parents decided to freeze her body while waiting for a cure that could, perhaps, bring her back to life.
Does it sound like science fiction or do you think that in 15, 20 or 30 years it could become a reality? The case of this little girl undergoing a cryogenic conservation process reopens the debate on eternal life.
Matheryn's story
A year ago, exactly on April 14, 2014, at two years and two months old, an 11-centimeter tumor was discovered in the left part of his brain. It was an ependimoblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer which affects the youngest and with an extremely bleak prognosis, with all in favor, the five-year survival rate is 30 percent.
Einz, that's what her parents call her, fell into a coma, but against all odds in a week she woke up. From there began a marathon of treatments to try to cure it. He had 12 brain surgeries, 20 chemotherapy treatments and 20 radiotherapy sessions. The girl lost 80 percent of her left brain, paralyzing the right side of her body. The family lived a roller coaster of emotions, sadness and hope mixed equally.
But despite her hard struggle and that the girl was improving at times, her little body could not fight cancer and on January 8, 2015 he died in the arms of his parents.
The hope of cryogenization
We know little about this technique, except for the urban legend that claims that Walt Disney would be frozen. But it sounds more like a movie than anything else and it may become relevant in the future.
Matheryn's body is currently located at the facilities of Alcor, an Arizona-based cryogenization company, frozen at 196 degrees below zero. It is one of the most recognized organizations dedicated to this technique where they have already practiced more than 130 cryogenizations.
Logistics was not simple. They went through numerous legal obstacles and cumbersome procedures to repatriate the girl from Thailand to the United States to be frozen. Then his brain was separated from his body and It is not the whole body, but the small organ that remains cryogenized at the headquarters of Alcor.
The desire for eternal life has a high cost. Cryopreservation expenses range from $ 80,000 (for a "neuro" or brain, as in this case) up to $ 200,000 for the whole body, depending on what part of his mortal body a client wishes to maintain. Then keeping it costs $ 770 a year, in addition to proof that the financial agreements for the final procedure have been made. That is, there is a guarantee that the costs will be covered if the body or organ in question is revived.
Faith in science or despair?
A priori, it can be seen as an act of despair of parents who cannot deal with the duel of the death of their little daughter, but express that their decision is not merely idealistic. They come from a family of doctors and trust the advances of science and make use of them. In fact, the girl was born in a rented belly, since her mother had lost her uterus by giving birth to a previous child.
They rely on the advances that will occur in the field of genetic cancer research, as has been the case with Einz. Yours is a expression of faith in science. They bet that one day their child's brain can be thawed and cured and from there regenerate her entire body to bring it back to life.
What do you think about these types of procedures? Do you think that eternal life will be possible in the future?
