During my hospital stay with my husband in October, I witnessed a heartbreaking scene. A young couple in their thirties was waiting anxiously near the emergency room, and the news was broken to them that their five-year-old was no more. The father of the deceased child collapsed, and the young mom yelled excruciatingly in a loud voice. Everyone rushed to the spot with great commensuration, but Alas!! Nothing could comfort those young parents.
My eyes water and I become emotional whenever I recall that incident. I still resonate with the clamor of that day. No parent deserves that kind of devastating loss. Just a thought occurred to me: if that couple would be given ‘a hope’ that they could resurrect their child in the future, what would be their decision?
A few days before the incident, I had read an article about Thai parents who decided to cryogenically freeze their two-year-old daughter, who had succumbed to brain cancer. They refused to accept her death and refused to let her go. Instead, they wanted to preserve her head and brain with a cryonics procedure. It sounds creepy, right?
Story of Einz
Einz was born to Shahatorn and Nareerat in Thailand as their second child. At that time, the couple had an eight-year-old son named Matrix, who eagerly wanted a sibling. They named her Matheryin and called her Einz, which means ‘Love’ in Japanese and Chinese. Einz was loved profoundly by her family and was the apple of their eyes. Sahatorn is a laser scientist and owns a ‘laser factory, ‘and Nareerat is an engineer who has a Ph.D. degree like her husband.
Their blissful life ended when Einz fell into a comatose state in her sleep after her second birthday. She was diagnosed with ‘ependymoblastoma,’ a rare kind of brain cancer, and all hell broke loose. Einz went through intensive treatment, including 12 brain surgeries, 20 chemotherapies, and 20 radiation therapy sessions. Einz could not survive that aggressive cancer because it reached her brain stem and affected it. She died on the 8th of January 2015, just before her third birthday, after a long and brutal fight.
Saharton and Nareerat, who were Buddhists by religion, wanted to do something for terminally ill Einz that was scientifically possible. They strongly believe in science and are hopeful that future scientific discoveries will give them another chance to reanimate their precious daughter. They contacted a company called Alcor in Arizona, USA, who expertise in cryogenically freezing and preserving the bodies or the remains of human bodies viable on a cellular level. The company agreed to preserve the head and the brain of Einz for future rejuvenation.
The idea behind the preservation is that advanced medical science technology may revive Einz from the frozen state at some point in the future. They hope that one-day technology will make it possible to restore the brain and synthesize an entirely new body. Einz’s elder brother Matrix, a science enthusiast, internalizes the family dream of unfreezing Einz and is on a quest to give her a second chance of living a long life.
What is cryonics
Cryonics is the process immediately after the clinical declaration of death – the body or parts of the human body are frozen to the temperatures of -196 oC or -328 oF (of liquid Nitrogen). This leads the brain to enter into a state of ‘cryonic suspension,’ which prevents tissue decay.
The hope is not cheap; it costs thousands of dollars—a full-body cryopreservation costs around $200,000.!!!
Fiction or reality??
In the science fiction movie “Sleeper,” the protagonists are frozen to sleep and wake up in the distant future. Yes… it is fiction, not reality!!
The cryonics movement was born in 1962, when ‘Robert Ettinger’ wrote about the concept in a book named “The Prospects of Immortality.”
Pailin Wedel, the director of the documentary: ‘Hope Frozen: A Quest To Live Life Twice,’ explores in-depth and opines an unbiased view on the sensitive nature of cryogenic freezing of Einz’s brain. I liked the documentary, especially the scene where Matrix meets Robert McIntyre, the scientist who had revived a rabbit’s brain after freezing it cryogenically, informing Matrix that there is only a 0.1% chance of restoring Einz successfully. It gave me chills when Matrix explained how he saw his sister’s eyes sucked up during the freeze-drying process.
The ongoing ‘Debate on Cryonics’:
A neuroscience professor of King’s College, London, Clive Coen, says “the idea of preserving a whole body was ‘ridiculous’ and a whole-brain ‘ only slightly less ridiculous.’
Is selling false hope of reviving the deceased person in the future to the helpless people ethically correct?
The controversial procedures involved in freezing the body/body parts in an optimal condition call into questions concerning ethics and morality. A lot of money is spent in the hope of giving the deceased a second chance to live.
Is it just an overconfident dream or a way of making money?
Cryonics is viewed as pseudoscience by the mainstream scientific world.
Cryonics enthusiasts argue that nothing is impossible in science and technology in the coming days. They further say that the stigma associated with freezing dead ones may help unscrupulous organizations take advantage of vulnerable relatives.
The subzero temperatures help restore the organs without any cell damage, but modern medicines do not employ freezing methods. Reviving the dead body or body parts is still not in the picture shortly. Scientists say it may be possible in 20 years or 2000 years from now.
Does cryonics make sense??
I believe life and death are the absolute truths of life. One has to die one day after living whatever life they lived on this earth. Though I empathize with Einz and her family’s pain and suffering, I am skeptical and do not agree with the practices of cryonics. We need to let go of the people who die, even though it could be soul-crushing.
What’s your take on ‘cryonics’?
Is it ethically, morally correct to preserve the corpse in the hope of resurrecting them??
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Written by Habeeba Waseem, Content Developer and writer @mindsonfleek
Excellent write up. I’m also of a view not favouring cryonics. As you said rightly, birth and deaths are realities and one need to know how to let go.
Thank you Manoj! Thanks for sharing your opinion.