Alcor member Dr. Darius Nelson, A-2158, practiced medicine in Southern California. He had long suffered from prostate cancer that generated a roller coaster of health issues. While not ill enough to launch a standby, Darius’ health was fragile and Alcor felt it was prudent to pre-position a mini-med kit at his home a few months ago. This was due to his specific circumstances – 24 hour nursing care and cryonics friends that lived close by – both who were willing to assist in administering the medications in the event of an unexpected clinical death.

On Sunday morning, June 27th, 2010, after appearing to have a very good day with respect to his health, Darius stopped breathing. His health care provider immediately called Alcor’s emergency number upon confirming his condition and also contacted a local Alcor member who was a close personal friend of Darius. Within the hour, he was pronounced, the pre-positioned medications were administered and the patient was immersed in ice. A local mortuary was called and they transferred the patient to Critical Care Research (CCR) while Southern California team members delivered the remaining med kit. Dr. Harris and his team administered the remaining medications, performed a washout and prepped the patient for transport.

We were faced with a potential straight freeze of this patient because the vital statistics office would not open for another day. To avoid this outcome, we chose to modify our typical whole body surgical procedure. CCR performed a washout on the entire body and isolated the cephalon for immediate transport to Alcor via air ambulance. The trunk was then perfused by CCR, placed on dry ice, and transported to Alcor after the transfer permit was obtained.

Technically we achieved terminal perfusion on both the cephalon and the trunk. However, we remain concerned that the cephalon perfusion statistically appeared less than optimal. Darius is now Alcor’s 98th patient.