Kim Suozzi passed away January 17th 2013 at age 23. The Society for Venturism, a cryonics advocacy and support group, had started a charity fund for her cryonic suspension in August of 2012 and through an overwhelming amount of support from the extreme life extension community enough funds were raised for her to be cryo preserved with Alcor. She had a successful standby and suspension and now is in stasis at Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Alcor CEO Max More announced today that Alcor will be publishing a brief summary of her suspension and details about her memorial in the next few days on the Alcor blog: http://www.alcor.org/blog/The Society for Venturism is thankful to have helped fulfill her last wish to be cryo preserved in the hopes that she will be able to finish her life someday. Kim's boyfriend said, "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. 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."
Kim knew about the next charity recipient that the Society for Venturism is taking on for 2013, a man struggling with ALS, Aaron Winborn. She wrote to him on 12-13-12 saying that she wanted to help promote his charity, and also hoped that people who supported her would support his case. She was hopeful that the Society for Venturism would be successful in gathering donations for further charity cases in the future. When she had written him she had apologized to him for not helping more, explaining that her condition had deteriorated. He had responded to her; "My condition as well is beginning to worsen; my breathing has declined considerably, and my FVC has reached 25%, far below the threshold of 35%, when respiratory failure is imminent and can happen at any time. My only option at this point is to opt for invasive mechanical ventilation, which may give me a 50% chance of surviving a year." Sadly Kim's health kept her from being able to help Aaron as much as she wanted, and also his own health has kept him from being as active as he would like.
Here is a link to Aaron's story that he submitted to the Society for Venturism November of 2012:
http://www.venturist...rn-charity.htmlIt includes a button where you can donate if you are able, every amount helps as this is the very beginning of the cryonics charity campaign for Aaron and it is not known how much time he has as his condition has deteriorated more rapidly than expected since November. The amount needed at minimum will be $32,000.00 for a $28,000.00 suspension at Cryonics Institute and transportation costs, so even small donations will help reach the goal.
Kim was very thankful for all the support she received, she told Aaron to keep his options open for Cryonics Institute or Alcor--he said that he hoped enough funds will be raised for a cryonics suspension with Cryonics Institute and that he should have a contract with him by this January. The Society for Venturism has started collecting funds for him and is working with him to have the funds ready for the cryonics organization he contracts with.
All funds collected go to the cryonics organization that the recipient has contracted with, and not to the individual directly. Left over funds, if there are any after a recipient is preserved, will go to help a future charity recipient.
Shannon Vyff
Society for Venturism Director, Alcor and Cryonics Institute Member, LongeCity Director
