14 DAY TRIAL // 2-year-old Matheryn Naovaratpong from Thailand died on January 5 of this year. She was killed by a rare form of brain cancer that, at least for now, medicine cannot cure.
Rather than bury her, her parents decided to hold on to her. Thus, they had her cryogenically preserved in the hope that scientists might one day bring her back, treat her brain cancer and give her a new lease on life.
Within moments of the girl's death, specialists with cryonics organization Alcor drained her of bodily fluids and then pumped her with a chemical cocktail designed to preserve tissues even in a deep frozen state.
Then, the 2-year-old's body was placed in a special container and flown to Arizona, US, to Alcor's headquarters. Here, her brain was removed and put in storage at minus 196 degrees Celsius (minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit).
The girl's parents are confident she will one day be revived
Matheryn Naovaratpong's parents are both medical engineers. While it was her father who came up with the idea to have her cryogenically preserved, her mother didn't take long to agree with him that this was the best option for their daughter.
They are convinced that, years or maybe decades from now, the 2-year-old will be revived and cured. With a little bit of luck, they might still be around to witness this moment.
“As scientists, we are 100% confident this will happen one day - we just don't know when,” the girl's father, Sahatorn, told the press in an interview. “It was our love for her that pushed us towards this dream of science,” he added, as cited by Oddity Central.
Except the folks at Alcor can't guarantee a happy ending
The so-called science of cryonics comes down to trying to preserve bodies for extended periods of time in sub-zero temperatures in the hope that it will one day be possible to bring them back to life and cure whatever disease killed them to begin with.
It all sounds very promising, and while it is true that cryonics has come a long way since scientists first thought of it, the fact of the matter is there is no guarantee of a happy ending. Not yet, anyway. Plainly put, Alcor cannot promise Sahatorn and his wife to one day return their daughter.
Nonetheless, the couple are sure it will eventually come to happen. In fact, they have such faith in cryonics they plan to have themselves cryogenically preserved after their death so that when Matheryn Naovaratpong is brought back to life they will be there to welcome her.
It is understood that, when frozen back in January, the 2-year-old girl was Alcor's 134th cryogenically preserved patient and also its youngest ever.