Woman, 23, has her head frozen so she can be reborn after a cure for her brain cancer is found - against the wishes of her religious family



A dying young woman has decided to place her faith in science and have herself frozen after her death until a cure is found for her brain cancer.



Kim Suozzi, 23, of St Louis, ignored the wishes of her religious family and decided to have her head placed in cryogenic storage after she entered into the final stages of her life.



Diagnosed with an aggressive form of Glioblastoma multiforme, Kim died on January 17th and spent the final two weeks of her life at a hospice n Scottsdale, Arizona, so that she was near to the cryopreservation center that she chose.

Scroll Down for Video



Kim Suozzi pictured here in an interview only a few months before her death has decided to try and extend her life by having her head frozen in cryopreservation

Back in September, Kim had used the website Reddit to successfully help raise the $70,000 in funds she needed to fulfil her desire to have her head placed in cryonic preservation.



But when she told her family of her wishes, they recoiled, upset that she seemed to place more hope in science to be resurrected rather than accepting her death as final.

'As she said, what is she going to do, rot in the ground? We are talking about her body, we are not talking about her soul,’ her mother Jane Suozzi said to Fox 2 Now.

It was especially difficult for Kim's mother to accept that she was only having her head frozen and not her entire body.

Kim Suozzi was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in March 2011

Jane Suozzi explained how she was devastated at first by her daughter's decision to cryopreserve her head. but that she has come around to it

'It was explained to me that the cyropreservation was more successful if it was just the head. I can`t tell you why, I just know what they are really after is the brain,’ she said



‘I worked real hard on reconciling it with my personal faith and trying to be okay with it, and I am okay with it.'



Kim was diagnosed in March 2011 with her brain tumor after she had spent her Senior Year in college experiencing 'odd headaches' that led to a life threatening 30-minute-long seizure.



By August of last year she was beginning to lose function on the right side of her body and was given six months to live.



It was around this time that she used the online community of Reddit to help her with her burgeoning interest in cryogenics.

'I want to be cryogenically preserved when I die from brain cancer but can't afford it,' she wrote in her blog according to io9.com.

'I am literally begging for financial help.'

Brave Kim Suozzi underwent an invasive neurological procedure to attempt to remove her brain tumor but it ultimately failed

A facility such as Alcor Life Extension Foundation, where Kim's head is now stored, chraves up to $70,000 for neuropreservation and whole body preservation can cost up to $200,000.



Cryonic preservation freezes legally-dead people to liquid nitrogen temperature to stop physical decay. People undergo it in the hope that future technology will exist to revive their bodies and restore them to good health.



After Kim's posting on Reddit, she was approached by Society for Venturism who assisted her in raising the money for Kim to be frozen after her death.



'When funds are raised for a cryonics charity recipient they can choose to contract with the cryonics organization of their choice,' said Society for Venturism spokesman Shannon Vyff to io9.



'It is up to them to set up their contract; the Society for Venturism will then provide funds to the cryonics organization they have contracted with.'

Given six months to live, Kim developed a curiosity in cryoprocedures and asked the internet community Reddit to help her raise the money for the storage facility

Vyff is a board of Society for Venturism, and an Alcor and Cryonics Institute member.



'I have been happy to help the cryonics community, and at times it is hard raise funds for a charity recipient,' said Vyff.



'Kim's case was compelling to many people — not only did many cryonicists donate but non-cryonicists as well.'



Before she died last week, Kim updated her blog to explain her decision to her followers.



'Many of you know that I’m agnostic; I don’t have any clue what happens when you die, but have no reason to think that my consciousness will continue on after death,' Suozzi wrote.

Dr. Jerry Lemler, president and CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, stands in the Patient Care Bay area where the heads and bodies of 49 individuals are being held in cold storage suspension, at the company's headquarters

'The only thing that I can think to make me feel a little more at ease with my death is to secure cryopreservation plans on the off-chance that they figure out how to revive people in the future.'



Following her death, Kim's boyfriend made an official statement regarding her death.



'Our hope is that technology will continue to progress to the point that Kim may have a real chance of living again in the future,' said the statement.



'Unfortunately, the development of the requisite technologies could be decades or centuries away.



'Since Kim is no longer with us to explore and innovate in the field of neuroscience, she is counting on all of us to push for the innovations she had hoped to see in her lifetime.



'Until (or unless) the day comes that Kim can be brought back, remember her, celebrate her, and emulate her resilience, so we can create the future of her dreams.



'Nobody is too young to make cryopreservation arrangements.'