Teen dying of cancer requests to be frozen and possibly revived later

[Dragoncat]

http://www.theladbible.com/technology/interesting-british-14-year-old-cryogenically-frozen-in-historic-court-ruling-20161118#

Basically a girl dying of cancer requested to be frozen, so maybe, in the future when a cure is found, she could be thawed and live again. It could be like 200 years, she won't have any friends or relatives left, and she might not remember anything. Also Britain doesn't have the proper facilities so she was taken to the US.

What's everyone's thoughts? I'm not super religious but I do believe in heaven and souls, so I wonder how this would work, like would she go to heaven until she's revived? I wonder if she'd decide she liked heaven better and not be happy about being revived...idk, it kinda sounds like the beginning of every zombie story out there. Bringing back the dead is a touchy subject.

It sounds like she's hoping the cure for cancer happens soon, while she still has friends and relatives. If this even works I hope so too, it would suck to come back in a century and not know anybody and have everything completely different.

Discuss.

[shadowofchaos]

Ice crystals have this thing that cause cell death from their jagged edges.

Cryogenic suspension isn't possible at this stage of technology for long periods of time.

There is only one animal we know of that doesn't die when frozen.

And it's a bug from the Himalayas, IIRC.

Edited November 18, 2016 by shadowofchaos

[Phoenix Wright]

cryogenic freezing is not a thing. it is sad to say, but this person will pass before her time...

[shadowofchaos]

...from the article, it says she's already passed on, OP.

Edited November 18, 2016 by shadowofchaos

[Anacybele]

But many cancers do have cures. People survive cancer all the time now with today's tech. She can't be treated with chemo or anything? Is her type of cancer THAT terminal? Still, yeah, she sadly has impossible wishes...

EDIT: Nevermind...

Edited November 18, 2016 by Anacybele

[EricaofRenais]

Cancer right now has no cure Anacybele but doctors are able to detect it much earlier and treat it so that a person can live a full life if they find it soon enough, but finding it is the hard part and some cancers are much harder to find and treat it just depends on when they find it and if it has spread to other parts of the body. As to what this person wants if it gives them comfort then let them believe it if they want even though right now it won't work. I personally believe that when you die you die and that is that and I don't think science will ever be able to bring the dead back to life.

[Dragoncat]

Yeah I have a feeling it won't work too, humans aren't made to survive in a frozen state. Some animals can. Not humans. There is also a species of frog that freezes to survive winter, SoC. Predators think it's a rock. It thaws out in spring and hops away perfectly fine.

And yes, she has passed on, sorry for not making that clear.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Dragoncat

[Excellen Browning]

The girl suffered from a rare form of cancer, and she was frozen immediately after her death, in a hospital in London, then brought over to the US for storage.

I see two problems here. One is resuscitating her, the other is treating a cancer that has advanced so much. I really doubt this girl will be revived.

[Marz]

It's very sad to hear, I hope they do find a cure for cancer so noone has to suffer from it ever again.

But wouldn't it spread anyways even if you're frozen?, so if you were revived wouldn't you have maybe a few minutes or hours at best to live or you die as soon as you are thawed out?

What if we never found a cure, would you be frozen forever?, what would happen to your brain and soul? will it feel like a dream?

[Ansem]

the heterogeneity of cancer makes it such a bitch to treat, and chemo is one of the few things that can indiscriminately kill a lot of cancer cells regardless of their genetic makeup, however its so strong that it kills regular cells too. but looking on the bright side, lots of advances have been made in the last few years, and a lot of gene therapy options are in clinical trials right now.

[Lord Raven]

Neutron therapy works on cancer (and it's a cure) but only specific kinds. Neutrons are too destructive for certain kinds of cancer.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Lord Raven

[Nym]

I feel like in a science fiction movie or something.

But I'm 99% sure that we don't have the technology for that.

Also I'm sure we can't revive the dead, we are not Mercy from Overwatch.

[Dwalin2010]

What's the point of freezing somebody dead already? Theoretically there may be a cure for cancer in the future, but not a technique to resurrect the dead...

[eclipse]

Original source, beware of autoplay video.

I'd much rather study the cancer itself, rather than the girl. My condolences to the family, though I really don't have a problem with her being frozen. Either it works, and she can live out the rest of her life, or it doesn't, in which case nothing changes.

[Anacybele]

Cancer right now has no cure Anacybele but doctors are able to detect it much earlier and treat it so that a person can live a full life if they find it soon enough.

Meaning some cancers can be cured. :/ If it's detected early enough, treatments can kill the cancer cells or a surgery can remove the cancerous tumor or whatever, and in a lot of cases, the patient is cancer free after that and stays that way. This is technically curing said patient.

At least one cancer also has a vaccine, interestingly enough. I should know, because I've gotten the shot before. It's for cervical cancer.

Edited November 19, 2016 by Anacybele

[Slade]

Ice crystals have this thing that cause cell death from their jagged edges.

Cryogenic suspension isn't possible at this stage of technology for long periods of time.

There is only one animal we know of that doesn't die when frozen.

And it's a bug from the Himalayas, IIRC.

^Basically this. Our bodies contain a lot of water and cryogenics would cause the water in to turn into sharp or piercing icicle sheets. This would tear through our tissues and organs which will eventually spell out death. Our technology is good, but it isn't up to par for tasks like freezing live bodies and reviving them in the future.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Meaning some cancers can be cured. :/ If it's detected early enough, treatments can kill the cancer cells or a surgery can remove the cancerous tumor or whatever, and in a lot of cases, the patient is cancer free after that and stays that way. This is technically curing said patient.

At least one cancer also has a vaccine, interestingly enough. I should know, because I've gotten the shot before. It's for cervical cancer.

The vaccine is for human papillomavirus, rather than cancer specifically. However, you're not wrong: the damage this virus can cause is a serious risk factor for cervical cancer, and preventing it is one of the reasons to get the vaccine. That said, cancer itself is not a virus or bacterium and thus vaccines can not prevent it. Vaccines essentially prime your body to deal with foreign invaders, while cancer is the body's own cells gone rogue.

Different cancers do have various cures and treatments, but they certainly aren't ironclad, especially for certain types of cancer (e.g. pancreatic cancer is particularly deadly). There's a reason it's one of the leading causes of death.

[Anacybele]

Different cancers do have various cures and treatments

This was all I was trying to say, really. :/ I'm aware of most of everything else you said.

[Jotari]

I feel like in a science fiction movie or something.

But I'm 99% sure that we don't have the technology for that.

Also I'm sure we can't revive the dead, we are not Mercy from Overwatch.

We can revive the dead. Just shock em to get everything starting again. The real issue is the brain which pretty much gets destroyed in the process of dying and nothing short of some kind of time travel would be able to get around that (to my admittedly amateur knowledge). Of course it also depends on your exact definition of what constitutes as "dead".

Edited November 19, 2016 by Jotari

[Phoenix Wright]

We can revive the dead. Just shock em to get everything starting again. The real issue is the brain which pretty much gets destroyed in the process of dying and nothing short of some kind of time travel would be able to get around that (to my admittedly amateur knowledge). Of course it also depends on your exact definition of what constitutes as "dead".

shock therapy works when the heart is beating, but not rhythmically. that's why it's very dangerous to shock a healthy person.

if someone's heart stopped, it's unlikely to work. but i guess it might?

[Esau of Isaac]

We can revive the dead. Just shock em to get everything starting again. The real issue is the brain which pretty much gets destroyed in the process of dying and nothing short of some kind of time travel would be able to get around that (to my admittedly amateur knowledge). Of course it also depends on your exact definition of what constitutes as "dead".

The problem is the destruction of the tissue when frozen. Freezing all of the water in your body essentially turns it into mush, once you're thawed out. The thing cryogenics proponents are waiting for is some sort of magical tissue regeneration that can repair the damage caused when the body is initially frozen.

It's sad to say, but it is almost certain that all of those people cryogenically frozen are really just creatively embalmed corpses. It's always best to be hopeful, but nothing is likely to ever come of it. That said, if the tech does arise then you can all go to hell, I'm going to take an ice bath so I can wake up a couple centuries from now and fight radscorpions in my power armor.

[Rukina]

shock therapy works when the heart is beating, but not rhythmically. that's why it's very dangerous to shock a healthy person.

if someone's heart stopped, it's unlikely to work. but i guess it might?

The human body can survive for a small amount of time when the heart stops. Jump starting a stopped heart with a defibrillator, CPR, or another method can sometimes get it to start beating again depending on the situation. (Note: This won't work on someone who is already dead and it isn't a cure-all.)