A Nottingham-based organisation was responsible for helping to preserve the 14-year-old girl who won a court appeal to be cryogenically frozen after her death.
Cryonics UK, which has its registered office in Wollaton, used its emergency response service to prepare the teenager for long-term storage at a facility in America.
The girl’s story made headlines around the world when it emerged she had won a High Court appeal to be preserved in the hope future medical advances could one day bring her back to life.
Before her death from cancer earlier this year a judge supported her request to be preserved and transported to an American cryongenics centre. This was carried out when she died in October.
And Cryonics UK did not reveal their involvement but told Notts TV News on Friday it supported the girl’s decision, which had to go to court because her mother supported the move, but her father objected.
It has now been widely reported Cryonics UK was responsible for collecting and preserving her body in the UK before it was flown to the US.
A spokesman told Notts TV today it could not disclose which patients it has worked with.
But the organisation is believed to be the only group in the UK which supplies such a service.
Its registered office is on Parkside, Wollaton, although its storage facility is elsewhere and it has members around the UK.
Some of its members provide a service with an ambulance to collect and temporarily store a body using dry ice.
For permanent storage, a person has to be flown abroad because there is no such facility in the UK.
Cryonics UK Volunteer Victoria Stevens told Notts TV on Friday: “I support cryopreservation and can’t imagine why anyone would want to die – why would you choose not to avoid death when you can live for longer?
“We stress to our patients the importance of living a healthy life – but the point is you can be rejuvenated to a better state of health if that’s what you choose.”
The case has led to debate about the ethics of cryogenic storage, as there is not yet scientific proof the process can be reversed to bring someone back to life.
Cryonics UK is a limited company and according to its website operates on a non-profit basis as the operating arm of a charity, the Human Organ Preservation Research Trust.
The girl’s full identity is protected by a court order.
The overall cost of the procedure provided by Cryonics UK is around £27,870, which includes medications, doctors fees, travel costs and dry ice and water.
