Teenager cancer victim, 14, becomes the first British child to be cryogenically FROZEN after winning court battle against her father

Kim Suozzi was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer and died in 2013 knowing she would be frozen. Matheryn Naovaratpong, from Thailand, right,  is thought to be the youngest person ever cryogenically preserved after she died last year

A 14-year-old girl who died from cancer has become the first British child to be cryogenically frozen after a judge agreed to her dying wish so that one day she could 'be cured and woken up'.

The teenager, who cannot be named, died last month and is now in a 'cryostat' tank at around -196C (-321F) inside the Michigan-based Cryonics Institute, it can be reported for the first time today.  

She was at the centre of a fierce legal battle between her divorced parents - with her mother agreeing to her wish to be frozen while her estranged father refused because of its £37,000 cost and the brutal process of preserving her.

During the landmark case she wrote an extraordinary letter to a judge while on her death bed.

She said: 'I am only 14-years-old and I don't want to die but I know I am going to die.

'I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they may find a cure for my cancer and wake me up. I want to have this chance. This is my wish.'

'I think being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up - even in hundreds of years' time. I don't want to be buried underground'. 

'I AM ONLY 14 AND I DON'[T WANT TO DIE BUT I KNOW I AM GOING TO': DYING GIRL'S INCREDIBLE LETTER BEGGING TO BE FROZEN

The British girl now frozen in America met the judge to prove she was capable of making decisions about her body and wrote him a letter explaining her reasons. 

Mr Justice Jackson said: 'I am only 14-years-old and I don't want to die but I know I am going to die.

'I think being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up - even in hundreds of years' time. I don't want to be buried underground.

'I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they may find a cure for my cancer and wake me up.

'I want to have this chance. This is my wish.' 

Justice Jackson said that she died peacefully knowing she would be frozen and discussed the arrangements before on the day she died. 

She had asked the High Court to rule that her mother should be the only person allowed to make decisions about the disposal of her body. 

After agreeing, High Court judge Mr Justice Jackson, who visited the girl's bedside shortly before her death on October 17, said the terminally ill she died peacefully knowing that her remains would be frozen.

The judge said he had been moved by the 'valiant way' in which she had faced her 'predicament'. 

Her body has been flown to America and she has since slowly been chilled over two to three weeks in Liquid Nitrogen and stored next to around 150 other bodies.

She is in one of America's two main cryo-facilities - the Cryonics Institute near Detroit - where its founder Robert Ettinger was frozen with two of his wives when he died aged 92.

Around 250 people have spent huge sums cryo-preserving their bodies - the first was Dr James Bedford in 1967 - and it has been a popular theme in movies such as Forever Young starring Mel Gibson.

Even if the treatment is successful and she is brought back to life in, let's say, 200 years, she may not find any relative and she might not remember things. She may be left in a desperate situation - given that she is still only 14-years-old - and will be in the United States of America

Girl's father to judge on his opposition to her case 

Thousands more have paid up to £150,000 to do the same when they die.

A device called a 'heart-lung resuscitator' is used to get the blood pumping through the body again, when required, and medication is applied to the body to prevent the cells from deteriorating. 

Blood and bodily fluids are drained, then they are replaced with a solution like antifreeze.

But the process is hugely controversial, especially with scientists and doctors, because it has never been possible to successfully revive a human or any mammal frozen in this way.

Process: Bodies are drained of blood  on a table packed with ice(left) and then frozen slowly over several weeks before reaching -196˚ C and being kept in a regulated cylinder (right)

Process: Bodies are drained of blood  on a table packed with ice(left) and then frozen slowly over several weeks before reaching -196˚ C and being kept in a regulated cylinder (right)

WHAT IS CRYOPRESERVATION, HOW MUCH DOES IT COST AND HOW DOES IT WORK?  

Process: The girl will have been treated within minutes of death - flown to America and then slowly frozen to an ultra-low temperature in the hope, one day, she'll be woken up again

WHAT IS CRYOPRESERVATION?

The deep freezing of a body to - 196C (-321F). Anti-freeze compounds are injected into the corpse to stop cells being damaged. The hope is that medical science will advance enough to bring the patient back to life. Two main US organisations carry out 'cryonics' – Alcor, in Arizona, and Cryonics Institute, Michigan.

HOW IS IT MEANT TO WORK?

The process can only take place once the body is legally dead. Ideally, it begins within two minutes of the heart stopping – and no more than 15. The body must be packed in ice and injected with chemicals to reduce blood clotting. At the cryonics facility, it is cooled to just above OC and the blood is replaced with a solution to preserve organs. The body is injected with another solution to stop ice crystals forming in organs and tissues, then cooled to - 130C. The final step is to place the body into a container which is lowered into a tank of liquid nitrogen at - 196C.

WHAT'S THE CHANCE OF SUCCESS?

Many experts say there is none. Organs such as the heart and kidneys have never been successfully frozen and thawed, so it is even less likely a whole body – and the brain – could be without irreversible damage.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Charges at the Cryonics Institute, where the girl has been stored, start at around $35,000 (£28,000) to 'members' for whole-body cryopreservation. The girl was charged £37,000, which may include costs such as transportation. Rival group Alcor charges $200,000 (£161,000) for whole-body preservation.

HOW LONG BEFORE PEOPLE CAN BE BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE?

Cryonics organisations claim it could be decades or even centuries. However Medical experts say once cells are damaged during freezing and turned to 'mush' they cannot be converted back to living tissue, any more than you can turn a scrambled egg back into a raw egg. 

Cold storage: Bodies and heads are held in tanks like these and will be kept at -196˚ C in the hope one day they can be 'woken up'

Landmark case: The girl has been frozen at become the first British child to be cryogenically frozen and in the Cryonics Institute in Detroit - she is now in one of these storage tanks 

Plea: The teenage girl wrote a moving letter to the High Court explaining the reasons why she wanted to be cryogenically frozen 

Credits: DailyMail.uk