Updated February 26, 2020 12:34:04

When Ron Fielding tells people he plans to be brought back to life long after he dies, he gets a few curious looks, but that is just what he has signed up for.

Cryonics has been a passion of Mr Fielding's for decades.

The 78-year-old from Goulburn in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, is a member with The Cryonics Institute in the United States.

He has spent years researching the process of having his body frozen, or put into a state of 'suspension' and is hoping that one day, his own frozen body will be brought back to life.

Mr Fielding had initially planned that at age 84 he would leave his family and move to the US to be closer to a cryonics storage facility.

But he is now hoping his move across the world may not need to go ahead as groundwork for the first cryonics storage facility in the southern hemisphere started this month in Holbrook, in southern NSW.

Mr Fielding visited the site on the weekend to take a sneak peek of the facility where he hopes to be kept in suspension and to start the long wait for science to maybe, one day, bring him back into the world of the living.

Mr Fielding said while he was used to facing scepticism about the possibility of being brought back from the dead, he remained an optimist.

"People might laugh, but someone had to be a pioneer," he said.

"They always laughed at people when they're going to do something [new], but I feel this is the start of another exploration.

"The way science and that are today, just ask yourself, 'why should you die?'"

Mr Fielding said he hoped he would not be waking up alone in the future if he ever is brought back to life.

But he should not worry too much as his son, Guy Fielding, has also signed on to be suspended.

Guy, who describes himself as having "an open mind", decided to be frozen after learning about the process from his father.

It was an exciting moment for Mr Fielding and his son to inspect the foundations of the storage facility in Holbrook this month.

"I'd rather Dad stayed in Australia if it's at all a possibility, rather than go to America at one the cryonics institutes in the States," Guy said.

"This is really exciting to keep Dad with us here in Australia.

"If one day we can be together again, that will be fantastic [and] if we're here in Australia, that will be a better option than being overseas."

The warehouse at Holbrook will be operated by Southern Cryonics and is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

Zoning, location, and a reduced risk of natural disaster all helped lead to the small town becoming one of the cryonics capitals of the southern hemisphere.

The warehouse will only be around 100 square metres and will host up to 40 clients.

For those undergoing the process, a designated response team will step into action after a client is declared legally dead.

The body will be stabilised to help preserve the brain as best as possible and slowly cooled, before the body is wrapped in ice and injected with an anticoagulant to stop blood clotting.

Water will then be removed from cells and replaced with a glycerol-based chemical.

The body is cooled to dry-ice temperatures to about minus 130 degrees Celsius and is then placed upside down in a vacuum-sealed tank filled with liquid nitrogen.

Being upside down will protect the brain from any potential leaks in the tank, where temperatures hover around minus 200 degree Celsius.

Different specialist teams will be in charge of different steps of the suspension process, with Southern Cryonics in charge of the final storage stage.

"We have the technology for the suspension part," Southern Cryonics founder, director, and chairman Peter Tsolakides said.

"Where the technology does not exist, very clearly, is technology and science of the future, and that is to bring people back."

That has not deterred future clients, whom Mr Tsolakides described as "optimists".

"Most of the people who are interested in cryonics are male [and] either they've got a science or STEM-type background or they're interested in that," he said.

"They've got an interest in the future and normally they're very positive about the future, they have a positive aspect, they're optimistic type people generally."

Being frozen is more expensive than a standard funeral or cremation.

So far 27 founding members of Southern Cryonics have committed $50,000 each to help build the facility, and will receive a free suspension.

Founding memberships will be closing on March 31, this year and after that, associated members who want to be frozen will have to pay $150,000.

Mr Fielding and his son Guy have weighed up the financial obstacle and agree it was "an issue".

"Things like insurance and having something there when you pass away usually you have some assets saved up, and that's when you make the commitment to spend," Guy said.

"Certainly being able to raise the funds and do it now would be difficult while you're still living but I think it's something you have in place when you do pass."

Executive officer of the Cryonics Association of Australasia, Phil Rhoades, who joined the Fieldings on their tour of the site, is expecting cryonics to become more mainstream.

"I'm expecting a non-foundation member to happen relatively quickly in the next year or two," he said.

"I'm guessing the first person [to be frozen] is going to be a non-foundation member who is going to come out of the blue, finding out that the facility is working and wanting to take advantage of it.

"There's the possibility also of preserving pets, so I wouldn't be surprised if that happened sooner than a human as well."

Like the Fieldings, Mr Rhoades is also an optimist about what the future holds.

"People are starting to think that anything might be possible," he said.

Topics:science-and-technology,health,community-and-society,medical-research,death,holbrook-2644,goulburn-2580,united-states

First posted February 26, 2020 11:43:20

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Work begins on first cryonics storage facility in southern hemisphere - ABC Local