It’s time for the annual Cryofeast holiday party hosted by Kat Cotter and Dave Kekich, however this year they’re actually holding it a century from now in another part of the galaxy. But don’t worry, they have a way to get your there. For those who don’t know, Dave has been building a rudimentary time machine- it can’t take them everywhere (yet) but they’ve found they can use it as a portal to transport us to about 100 years ahead. So they’re setting it for December 5, 2115 and the destination is the Star Wars Cantina (which you may remember from one of the Star Wars movies). So when you arrive at the clubhouse an android will escort you through the portal and they’ll be waiting for you there!

And since they’re heading into the future, they thought it would be fun to dress the part so this year’s annual holiday party will be a futuristic costume ball!

Costumes aren’t required, but if you wear a costume it can be anything from funky to futuristic. Think the Singularity, Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men, Transformers, AI, robotics, cryonics, the Matrix, Terminator, the Jetsons, Alien, Interstellar, Back to the Future, Close Encounters, Avatar, etc.

This will be a potluck so please bring along some (healthy) party food and something you like to drink. They hope you can make it- the future won’t be as much fun without you!

Please email Kat at with your RSVP.

DATE: Saturday, December 5, 2015
TIME: 6:00-10:00 PM
WHERE: The Clubhouse at 5100 Colony Plaza
Newport Beach, CA 92660

Remember, costumes are optional but please bring a dish and something you’d like to drink.

Jeanne Calment is listed as the longest-living (verified) human being in history. She was born on February 21, 1875 and died on 4 August 1997, at the age of 122 years, 164 days (or 44,724 days). Now that record has been surpassed – if cryopreservation works as a means of extending his life. Dr. James Bedford, who is maintained along with other cryopreserved patients at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, was born April 20, 1893. On October 3, 2015, his age in days equaled 44,725 – and we are still counting, of course!

It is true that Bedford is not currently, legally alive. But neither is he known to be dead. When Alcor transferred him from an old, customized vessel back in 1991, it was clear that the original ice cubes were intact. We have no good information on the quality of his ultrastructural preservation. But we can say that he has remained cryopreserved since the day of his cardiac arrest in 1967, and so deserves the title of LONGEST-SURVIVING HUMAN BEING IN HISTORY!

Private member A-2813 was pronounced clinically dead on May 25, 2015 in Florida. A-2813, a whole body member, arrived at Alcor at 12:37am on May 26, becoming Alcor’s 137th patient.

This individual was in the ICU of a Florida hospital with acute respiratory problems that persisted for an extended period of time. His daughter initiated the process to have her father cryopreserved and completed the paperwork and provided funding to Alcor. Suspended Animation (SA) was put on alert early on when local physicians were concerned that the patient may not survive. His health improved for a while and then progressively became worse again. Suspended Animation was deployed for three days when the patient met our critical criteria but eventually the standby was discontinued following another rebound in health, but the patient’s status was monitored and reports send twice daily. Eight days later, on May 24, the patient’s health deteriorated suddenly and SA deployed again. At 6:47am EST on May 25, the SA team leader received a call from hospital staff that the patient had arrested and Code Blue resuscitation efforts had begun. SA Team members waiting outside the hospital gathered medications and equipment from the vehicle and moved to the CCU floor. After two full Code Blue protocols, patient was pronounced at 7:32 am EST and stabilization procedures began.

Following a washout at a local mortuary, the patient was flown to Phoenix, arriving at Alcor a little over 20 hours after pronouncement. Several complication arose during this case and will be discussed in the full case report (which is currently undergoing review). According to the patient’s daughter, “He was a highly decorated B-24 pilot in World War II and Korean War veteran so it was fitting that he should pass on Memorial day.”

For the third consecutive year, Alcor is reducing membership dues. Starting October 1, 2015:

There will be a reduction in dues by approximately 1% (the exact amount in dollars to be determined) for all except family members and minor children. Minor children will receive approximately a 50% cut in dues, and dues will be charged for a maximum of two minor children in a family.

Comment: This is a smaller reduction than in 2014 and 2013 but reinforces the trend of declining membership dues. We hope to continue this trend so long as membership growth continues. The 50% cut for minor children should provide substantial relief for members who sign up multiple family members.

Private Alcor member A-2019 was pronounced clinically dead on June 28, 2015 in St. Louis, MO. A-2019, a neurocryopreservation member, was Alcor’s 139th patient and arrived at Alcor on July 2, where cool down from dry ice temperature to liquid nitrogen temperature commenced.

In mid-May, Alcor received a call from one of our members in the St Louis, MO area. He informed us that he had previously been diagnosed with lung cancer but had decided to forgo conventional treatments for more natural-based therapies that he self-prescribed. He had also chosen against diagnostic imaging to monitor his progress so he was unable to obtain any feedback on the progression of his disease.

His phone call was prompted by a concern over the possible spread of his disease. He recently coughed up blood and his limbs and joints were becoming increasingly painful.

We urged him to seek immediate medical attention as these were signs that could be quite serious, especially if related to his cancer. He sounded quite reluctant to go to a hospital or emergency facility out of fear they would attempt to treat his cancer. We explained that a diagnosis and prognosis of his current condition would help Alcor determine the extent of his illness and provide valuable information in the event a standby was warranted. He could always decline any cancer related treatment they offered but awareness of the medical problem was important. The member stated he would take our suggestions under advisement and keep us posted (we later learned he had decided not to be evaluated).

Less than two weeks later, we received a call very early in the morning, from the member’s best friend, telling us that our member was being taken to the hospital by ambulance due to severe difficulty breathing. Within the hour, the friend called back to say that our member had arrested in the emergency department and was pronounced after 40 minutes of unsuccessful resuscitation efforts.

We were successful in convincing the hospital to administer Heparin, in accordance with the patient’s medical alert tag and flushing with 500ml of sodium chloride, in lieu of chest compressions which they refused to perform post-pronouncement. Ice packs were also placed around the patient and he was transferred to the hospital’s morgue coolers. A local mortuary was found who agreed to assist with transport and the use of their prep room.

Due to the late notice and limited time available to acquire the paperwork needed for transport, Alcor president Max More decided to authorize the use of our Field-Neuro perfusion procedure rather than settling for a straight-freeze. Steve Graber and Aaron Drake flew to St. Louis, arriving the same evening, and drove to the mortuary where the patient was stored in their cooler, covered with ice bags.

Working through the night, the Field Neuro perfusion system was setup, surgical access was obtained and a washout/perfusion was performed using a smoothed step-ramp approach. A concentration of 50.1 Brix was achieved and maintained for an additional 30 minutes before termination, which concluded around 7:00 am in the morning. Dry ice was acquired through a tissue bank facility that was open all night and was used immediately to cool the body. After a brief rest, Aaron and Steve returned to the mortuary to construct a dry-ice shipping container and reapply additional dry ice to replenish that which had evaporated.

A commercial flight was scheduled for later in the week, after they were certain the patient was down to dry ice temperature. Our local mortuary retrieved the shipment from airline cargo and delivered to Alcor, following the direct flight to Phoenix. The dry ice shipper had plenty of dry ice remaining and our temperature monitor indicated that the patient was still sufficiently cold. His body is now in queue for further cooling measures.

On June 28th, 2015, A-2019 became Alcor’s 139th patient. He is also our 6th patient of the calendar year, and 15th patient for the last 12 months.