Science fiction could become science fact in quest for second go at life. Susie Carter reports
A Cornish woman is embarking on a chilling quest for a second go at life - by having her body frozen after death.
Chrissie Loveday from Porthtowan, plans to spend approximately £20,000 on being cryogenically frozen, which she hopes will allow her to experience life for a second time.
The process sounds like it has been lifted straight from the script of Austin Powers, but Chrissie says the benefits behind it are serious.
"There is just this tiny, tantalising thought that you could be brought back in the future - it is the nearest you will get to time travel," she said.
"Imagine what the future would be like. I would do all the things I never managed to do in this life.
"I might even meet my great, great grandchildren."
While many rely on miracle creams to banish the signs of ageing, Chrissie believes cryogenics could be the answer.
"I would rather not have arthritic knees and have the energy I used to have," she said. "What is daunting is whether anyone is going to care enough to thaw you out."
Chrissie was recently guest speaker on cryonics during a conference entitled Who Wants to Live Forever which was broadcast around the world from the Natural History Museum in London.
She signed up to the Cryonics Institute in America in 1994 and will only pay her £20,000 if and when the appropriate technology becomes available. She said bodies would not be reanimated if the world had become nasty or dangerous.
After death, those who sign up are taken to America. Bodies are cooled down first before blood is removed and replaced with a solution that minimises freezing damage. Bodies are then cooled further and immersed in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees celsius.
Participants hope their bodies will be thawed out and `re-animated' when appropriate medical technology becomes available.
Once thawing was complete, scientists could perform nanotechnology - the manipulation of cells in the body - which could allow the ageing process to be reversed. However, experts believe the ageing process would slowly resume after thawing.
"My soul could think `ha ha, you silly fool for trying'. It is a long shot but I think it would be so exciting."
said Chrissie. "It is a completely unknown quantity and it is wrong to say never. In the 1950s people said it was impossible to transplant a heart.
"I am not a total dimwit: there are some brilliant minds in the world signed up for it.
"I do laugh about it too. I don't talk about it non-stop all the time.
"The greatest gift that God gave us is life and we are trying to
preserve it." she said.