Hi Kim, I’m Stephan. Your story hit me harder than probably anyone else here—I’m 29, I intend to sign up for cryonics in the next few years, and glioblastoma multiforme has killed two of my ancestors: my maternal grandmother when I was very young, and my dad in 2010. If I were diagnosed with GBM now, much less at 23, I’d be mewling like a kitten in terror. I am truly sorry to hear of the shitty hand that nature has dealt you.
I will donate $5,000 when CI manages a fund for you (like JGWeissman said).
While some people have been offering you terrible “advice” on Reddit, I swear that this is completely different—I want to point out two important things that you may have missed. (Obviously, you haven’t had a ton of time to look into your options here!)
CI’s fee structure is confusing. I’ve been looking at Alcor, so I’m not very familiar with CI, but you appear to have created a Yearly membership ($75 one-time initiation fee, plus $120 per-year membership). With this membership, you need $35,000 for cryopreservation. There’s another kind of membership, the Lifetime membership. That has a $0 initiation fee and a $1,250 one-time membership fee, after which cryopreservation is $28,000.
The Yearly membership makes sense for people who can’t scrape together $1,250 at the beginning. But for your purposes, the Yearly membership is significantly more expensive.
The good news is that you can reduce the amount you’ll need to raise from $35,195 to $29,250: “Yearly Membership members may switch to Lifetime Membership at any time, by paying the $1,250 Lifetime membership fee. If Yearly Member decides to covert to a Lifetime Membership, all Yearly Membership payments paid in the year prior to the conversion date can be counted toward the one-time Lifetime Membership fee of $1,250.00. This means that the $75.00 Initiation Fee can only be applied to the Lifetime Membership fee during the first year of Yearly Membership.”
Unlike Alcor, CI’s basic membership doesn’t include “Standby”—CI presents it as a significantly more expensive feature that you can add for $88,000 (in fact, you must set it up with a separate organization, Suspended Animation). CI has a pros/cons page about this. Alcor’s $80,000 neurocryopreservation includes Standby. If your fundraising is wildly successful, you should definitely consider it.
I intend to sign up for cryonics in the next few years
Why not sign up now? To get started, just fill out this form and Rudi Hoffman will find insurance policies for you and walk you through the rest of the process. (You have clearly put some research into this, so if you have some other path, take it, but “the next few years” is too vague of a time frame for you to ever decide “now is the time to do it”.)
I’m not completely irrational. The primary roadblock is not my paperwork allergy (which is admittedly intense) but the fact that I like to completely think through major decisions. My financial situation is unlike most people’s, and insurance may not be optimal for me. While researching Kim’s options, I looked at Alcor’s funding methods closely for the first time, and a trust may be best for me. I try to collect other data, like this found today. Then it all goes into my brain, I heavily weight whatever Luke thinks, and bam—decision. Then I procrastinate on paperwork.
Hi Kim, I’m Stephan. Your story hit me harder than probably anyone else here—I’m 29, I intend to sign up for cryonics in the next few years, and glioblastoma multiforme has killed two of my ancestors: my maternal grandmother when I was very young, and my dad in 2010. If I were diagnosed with GBM now, much less at 23, I’d be mewling like a kitten in terror. I am truly sorry to hear of the shitty hand that nature has dealt you.
I will donate $5,000 when CI manages a fund for you (like JGWeissman said).
While some people have been offering you terrible “advice” on Reddit, I swear that this is completely different—I want to point out two important things that you may have missed. (Obviously, you haven’t had a ton of time to look into your options here!)
CI’s fee structure is confusing. I’ve been looking at Alcor, so I’m not very familiar with CI, but you appear to have created a Yearly membership ($75 one-time initiation fee, plus $120 per-year membership). With this membership, you need $35,000 for cryopreservation. There’s another kind of membership, the Lifetime membership. That has a $0 initiation fee and a $1,250 one-time membership fee, after which cryopreservation is $28,000.
The Yearly membership makes sense for people who can’t scrape together $1,250 at the beginning. But for your purposes, the Yearly membership is significantly more expensive.
The good news is that you can reduce the amount you’ll need to raise from $35,195 to $29,250: “Yearly Membership members may switch to Lifetime Membership at any time, by paying the $1,250 Lifetime membership fee. If Yearly Member decides to covert to a Lifetime Membership, all Yearly Membership payments paid in the year prior to the conversion date can be counted toward the one-time Lifetime Membership fee of $1,250.00. This means that the $75.00 Initiation Fee can only be applied to the Lifetime Membership fee during the first year of Yearly Membership.”
Unlike Alcor, CI’s basic membership doesn’t include “Standby”—CI presents it as a significantly more expensive feature that you can add for $88,000 (in fact, you must set it up with a separate organization, Suspended Animation). CI has a pros/cons page about this. Alcor’s $80,000 neurocryopreservation includes Standby. If your fundraising is wildly successful, you should definitely consider it.
Why not sign up now? To get started, just fill out this form and Rudi Hoffman will find insurance policies for you and walk you through the rest of the process. (You have clearly put some research into this, so if you have some other path, take it, but “the next few years” is too vague of a time frame for you to ever decide “now is the time to do it”.)
I’m not completely irrational. The primary roadblock is not my paperwork allergy (which is admittedly intense) but the fact that I like to completely think through major decisions. My financial situation is unlike most people’s, and insurance may not be optimal for me. While researching Kim’s options, I looked at Alcor’s funding methods closely for the first time, and a trust may be best for me. I try to collect other data, like this found today. Then it all goes into my brain, I heavily weight whatever Luke thinks, and bam—decision. Then I procrastinate on paperwork.
LOL
I think I will have to trust Luke to make sure you get going on the paper work after you make your decision.
I’ll be in Seattle in two weeks, and I’ll take care of it (final three paragraphs).