X-Message-Number: 9886
From: 
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 23:43:28 EDT
Subject: Natasha--Against All Odds

NATASHA--AGAINST ALL ODDS

(Longer versions of this--or/and a report by Rudy Matic--will appear in THE
IMMORTALIST and on our web site.)

Natasha Matic was the Cryonics Institute's 29th human whole-body patient. Her
struggle for survival is a saga that in some ways is unparalleled in history.

She was born in Russia in 1910. The rise of Communism cost the lives of her
parents and two brothers. The Soviet invasion of Finland cost the life of her
first husband, and the Nazi invasion of Russia cost the lives of their two
children. The Nazis put her in a forced labor camp; of three thousand women
who passed through the camp, there were seventy survivors. 

She married again after being freed by the Americans, and seven years later
the couple came to New York. At age 44 Natasha had another child--a son, Rudy.
Her husband died in 1974.Recently Rudy became aware of the increasing public
interest in, and scientific support for, cryonics; and he shared what he
learned about the subject with his mother. Elderly now, but open-minded and
bright, she came to understand and share his interest and enthusiasm. 

Rudy and Natasha made inquiries in March, but had not yet made membership
application when she turned 88 in May. In June she suffered a stroke and heart
attack, and we had another death-bed situation.

Somehow, everything was done in a single day--agreement, payment,
pronouncement of death in New York, and suspension in Michigan. Credit goes to
Rudy's determination, to an open-minded and cooperative hospital staff, an
efficient local mortuary, and to the day and night efforts of CI personnel. 

How unusual is such an event? So far, to my knowledge, it is unique. Such a
thing has never happened before, and is unlikely to happen again any time
soon. (If YOU are considering CI, for yourself or a relative, please, PLEASE
don't wait for a death-bed situation.)

Through a combination of luck, brains, and heart, Natasha lived through
repeated torment and tragedy, and beat the odds. Now she has engaged in a
still greater struggle for life, and her fate is in OUR hands. We intend to
live up to her standard. 

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

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