by Jasmine Huda / News 4
KMOV.com
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:31 PM
Updated Sunday, Sep 30 at 8:30 AM
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- A 23-year-old braincancer patient said she will do whatever it takes to extend herlife. Even if it means freezing her body. "Like it or not, I'm probably going to die soon from brain cancer, Kim Suozzi says in her video diary. With months left to live maybe more, maybe less - Suozzi leans on her family and long-time boyfriend, Josh, for support. The right side of her body has already begun to shut down. My leg is weak. I shuffle when I walk and I can't really use [my right] arm at all, she said. But despite the deterioration of her health, the Ballwin native believes her life is far from over. After she dies, Suozzis body will be cryo-preserved. The process involves freezing the body, with the hope that it can be revived or re-animated if a cure for the disease is discovered. Dr. David Ettinger, son of Cryonics Institute Founder Robert Ettinger, makes no guarantees that a body can be brought back to life. However, he said, technological advances over time are giving patients hope that they can re-enter the world. Cryonics patients are people like me like my family who believe they want to live longer lives, he said. Whether in some cases their lives are tragically cut short, or in others they are cut short by old age. The Institute is located in Clinton Township, Michigan. On its website, the Institute states that it has cryopreserved more than 100 humans, all stored at a precise liquid nitrogen temperature. Suozzi said she would like to be cryopreserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. The cost, she said, is approximately $80,000. Through an appeal made online, she has is halfway toward her goal. Suozzi said if she cannot raise the remaining amount of money, she will likely opt for the Cryonics Institute, which charges a one-time, $28,000 fee for cryopreservation (not including transportation of the body). Suozzi said the online community has been very generous and supportive both emotionally and financially. She said most of her donors are strangers who want to help her carry out her final wishes. Suozzi said she knows the chances of being re-animated are close to zero. But she said she has nothing to lose. I just kind of think of it as the last thing I can possibly do to give myself another chance, she said. The options are, I die. Nothing happens, likely. Or I come back. Things are weird, probably. But I'm alive again. For Suozzi, that dollar amount represents a key to a longer life. The Institute agrees. We are in it for one purpose and one purpose only and that is to give ourselves and our family members a chance in the future, Ettinger said.
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A chance in the future? Terminally-ill cancer patient arranges for body to be frozen
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