Dying British Teen Convinces Judge to Let Her Body Be Frozen

A 14-year-old British girl who wanted her body to be frozen so she could later be “woken up”, won an historic legal fight shortly before her death, the Associated Press reports.

“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,” the terminally-ill cancer victim wrote to a judge before her recent death.

She told the judge “being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up — even in hundreds of years’ time.”

Her letter convinced High Court Judge Peter Jackson to fulfill her last wish in what he said was the first case of it’s kind in England, according to the AP.

The judge reportedly said the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had chosen the most basic preservation option at a cost of $46,000.

Her parents, who are divorced, initially disagreed about the decision. Her mother favored the option while her father did not, although he softened his stance as his daughter’s death drew near.

The teenage girl asked the court to designate her mother as the only one who could dispose of her remains to ensure cryogenic preservation.

The ruling came in October and cleared the way for her remains to be taken to a specialist facility in the United States to begin the preservation process.

While the girl was too sick to attend court proceedings, Jackson visited her in the hospital and said he was impressed by the “valiant way” she dealt with her rare form of cancer. He also noted that she spent her final months of life researching cryonics.

“I don’t want to be buried underground,” she wrote toward the end of her note. “I want to have this chance. This is my wish.”