Private Alcor member A-2019 was pronounced clinically dead on June 28, 2015 in St. Louis, MO. A-2019, a neurocryopreservation member, was Alcor’s 139th patient and arrived at Alcor on July 2, where cool down from dry ice temperature to liquid nitrogen temperature commenced.

In mid-May, Alcor received a call from one of our members in the St Louis, MO area. He informed us that he had previously been diagnosed with lung cancer but had decided to forgo conventional treatments for more natural-based therapies that he self-prescribed. He had also chosen against diagnostic imaging to monitor his progress so he was unable to obtain any feedback on the progression of his disease.

His phone call was prompted by a concern over the possible spread of his disease. He recently coughed up blood and his limbs and joints were becoming increasingly painful.

We urged him to seek immediate medical attention as these were signs that could be quite serious, especially if related to his cancer. He sounded quite reluctant to go to a hospital or emergency facility out of fear they would attempt to treat his cancer. We explained that a diagnosis and prognosis of his current condition would help Alcor determine the extent of his illness and provide valuable information in the event a standby was warranted. He could always decline any cancer related treatment they offered but awareness of the medical problem was important. The member stated he would take our suggestions under advisement and keep us posted (we later learned he had decided not to be evaluated).

Less than two weeks later, we received a call very early in the morning, from the member’s best friend, telling us that our member was being taken to the hospital by ambulance due to severe difficulty breathing. Within the hour, the friend called back to say that our member had arrested in the emergency department and was pronounced after 40 minutes of unsuccessful resuscitation efforts.

We were successful in convincing the hospital to administer Heparin, in accordance with the patient’s medical alert tag and flushing with 500ml of sodium chloride, in lieu of chest compressions which they refused to perform post-pronouncement. Ice packs were also placed around the patient and he was transferred to the hospital’s morgue coolers. A local mortuary was found who agreed to assist with transport and the use of their prep room.

Due to the late notice and limited time available to acquire the paperwork needed for transport, Alcor president Max More decided to authorize the use of our Field-Neuro perfusion procedure rather than settling for a straight-freeze. Steve Graber and Aaron Drake flew to St. Louis, arriving the same evening, and drove to the mortuary where the patient was stored in their cooler, covered with ice bags.

Working through the night, the Field Neuro perfusion system was setup, surgical access was obtained and a washout/perfusion was performed using a smoothed step-ramp approach. A concentration of 50.1 Brix was achieved and maintained for an additional 30 minutes before termination, which concluded around 7:00 am in the morning. Dry ice was acquired through a tissue bank facility that was open all night and was used immediately to cool the body. After a brief rest, Aaron and Steve returned to the mortuary to construct a dry-ice shipping container and reapply additional dry ice to replenish that which had evaporated.

A commercial flight was scheduled for later in the week, after they were certain the patient was down to dry ice temperature. Our local mortuary retrieved the shipment from airline cargo and delivered to Alcor, following the direct flight to Phoenix. The dry ice shipper had plenty of dry ice remaining and our temperature monitor indicated that the patient was still sufficiently cold. His body is now in queue for further cooling measures.

On June 28th, 2015, A-2019 became Alcor’s 139th patient. He is also our 6th patient of the calendar year, and 15th patient for the last 12 months.