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Chelsea Ake Died In Freak Cryochamber Accident

By Chelsea Hoffman
Published on: 08:12 PST, Oct 25, 2015

A Nevada woman is dead in what is being reported as a “freak accident.” The New York Daily News reports that 24-year-old Chelsea Ake made a fatal mistake when she went into one of the ice stations by herself without first shutting down the machine. What resulted from this error is something of which nightmares are made.

Ake was reportedly a salon manager at the popular Rejuvenice store in Henderson, Nevada. On the night of the incident, she was alone at the salon when she took it upon herself to use the machine without any assistance or the supervision of other employees. Authorities in Henderson have ruled her death to be an accident or, more specifically, an “operator error,” but one of her friends isn’t entirely sure. Shae-Lynn Bee told KSNV News that she wasn’t sure if her friend accidentally locked herself in the chamber or if the machine itself malfunctioned.

“It’s very frustrating to know because you know there are no cameras in there. Basically, the only person that does know what happened is Chelsea.”

The way this woman died was nothing short of horrifying. She was reportedly trapped in the cryogenic chamber for approximately 10 hours, during which time she suffocated to death in temperatures that reached as low as 240 degrees Fahrenheit below freezing.

Chelsea Ake was a Hawaiian native who was surrounded by loved ones in both her home state and Nevada, where she met her tragic demise. The owners of the cryogenic spa have not addressed the details surrounding the Henderson woman’s death, but they have expressed condolences regarding her death.

Cryotherapy is often used to treat sports-related injuries and sore muscles as an alternative to ice packs or cold water immersion. Experts in the field of cryotherapy have explained that nobody should be exposed to one of these chambers for longer than two to four minutes at a time. With this information, it’s easy to see that approximately 10 hours inside one of these chambers would be a fatal experience to any healthy human being. Cryogenics has long been a topic of interest for science-fiction fans and actual science experts. In fact, it’s been theorized that a person could be reanimated after cryogenesis. That’s why several people have donated their bodies to science for cryogenic research in hopes of being reanimated in the future or to somehow aid in the advancement of this field. There have also been a number of hoaxes surrounding people being frozen, Walt Disney in particular.

Another famous case of someone being frozen involves 23-year-old Kim Suozzi. The neuroscience major donated her brain to the study of cryogenics after she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The woman, along with her boyfriend, managed to crowdfund the money needed — approximately $80,000 — to make this event possible. Kim died in 2013, and now her head (with her brain inside of it) is being kept at 300 degrees below freezing. Scientists are hoping that her thoughts and consciousness could someday be revived as they learn more about the science of cryogenics. Is it possible? Could Kim Suozzi’s inner conscious truly be reanimated, or are these high-in-the-sky dreams inspired by little more than science-fiction?

The death of Chelsea Ake is a truly tragic example of what could go wrong when working in cryogenic environments, but she is being remembered by her loved ones as a truly “awesome” person who was loved by everyone she knew.

[Image via Facebook photo of Chelsea Ake]

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