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by Ben Best
I was in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for on the NAD + Metabolism and Signaling Conference from June 26 to June 30, 2022.
On the morning of the last day of the conference (June 30) I was having trouble closing windows on my laptop. I did not understand the problem I was having, so I proceeded to get dressed. I was having problems getting dressed, which I did not understand, but ultimately succeeded. I proceeded to the conference room.
Walking toward the conference room I collapsed against a window in the hallway. A fellow asked me if I needed help, but I was unable to speak. I had no thought that there was anything wrong with me, only that I was having problems acheiving my objectives. I got-up and proceeded to the conference room, fumbling to fill my water bottle outside the room. A man told me not to go into the room, but I ignored him — rushing into the room and to a seat in the front of the room.
A man in uniform came before me and asked me how I was doing. I was unable to speak. A stretcher was brought into the conference room, which I was told to get into. As I was doing so, I dropped my water bottle, which a woman kicked under the table. I thought this was a mean thing to do to me. But I complied with the efforts to get me into the stretcher in my dazed, surreal state. Unlike a person who is in denial and disbelief about having a heart attack, I simply was not conscious of the fact that I having a medical crisis.
I remember being conscious at least part of the time wnen I was taken to the local hospital. I remember seeing a man going through my wallet. My Alcor wallet card is in a priminent position in my wallet, but Alcor was not called.
At the hospital my coat and pants and other clothes were carefully removed, but they simply ripped my T-shirt apart, and removed my Alcor necklace without looking at it.
The hospital in Steamboat Springs had determined that I had a clot in my brain. They administered some clot-busting tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which reportedly was not effective. The clot needed to be removed in a Grand Junction, Colorado hospital.
I remember being moved to another stretcher and into a helicopter. I remember the helicopter ride to Grand Junction as taking a long time. Carried in a stretcher from the helicopter I was greeted by a doctor who would be treating me, but I was promptly rendered unconscious by an injection I was given.
The Grand Junction the physicians performed a mechanical thrombectomy:
Mechanical thrombectomy is an endovascular technique for removing blood clots from the brain after an ischemic stroke. After making a small incision in the groin, doctors thread thin tubes (catheters) through your blood vessels to the clot. A tiny device at the catheter's tip grabs the clot and removes it, restoring blood flow to the brain.
A catheter was introduced to my right femoral vein, and threaded up to the left hemisphere of the brain to remove the clot. This procedure required permission from my Power of Attorney for health care, Christine Gaspar. The hospital took Christine at her word that she was my POA.
When I awoke, I was in the intensive care unit (ICU) of St. Mary's hospital in Grand Junction where I spent one day. I did not get much sleep or rest there because my vital signs were being taken every half-hour. I could not speak, but could only communicate by pointing to pictures and attempting to write illegibly on a whiteboard. I was soon moved to a normal hospital ward where I had a private room, and was able to recover more function.
The clot on the left side of my brain affected the right side of my body, my face much more so than my right leg, although writing with my right hand was initially very impaired. The right side of my face lost both sensory and motor function, and has proven the most difficult to recover.
Dr. Steve Harris agreed to be my primary physician for this case, although living in California. Christine Gaspar, RN acted as my medical Power of Attorney, although living in Florida.
My hospital physician prescribed 81 mg aspirin to be taken in the morning, and 40 mg atorvastatin to be taken in the evening. He told me that the statin was given to prevent thromboembolism, rather than to lower my blood LDL, which is already low. My Florida physician (Dr. Gaines) subsequently substituted rosuvastatin, which is better at preventing thromboembolism, as opposed to lowering LDL (my LDL is already very low).
Dr. Harris prescribed melatonin (to be taken throughout the day) and Vitamin D3.
I was released from the hospital on July 5th. My recovery was the most rapid my male nurse had ever seen. He took me for walks in the hospital hallways (as did a few of the female nurses) and watched me do ten pushups on the floor.
I am not going to write further about my stroke, but instead will write about what was going on concerning my cryonics arrangements, as has been told to me by others.
Some of the conference organizers gained access to my hotel room and apparently found Christine Gaspar's phone number as a recent caller on my mobile phone. Christine has been my Power of Attorny for health care for nearly twenty years. (Christine succeeded me as President of the Cryonics Society of Canada.) Christine initiated a barrage of phone calls, speaking with the Steamboat Springs hospital, my Florida physician (Dr. Gaines), Steve Harris (cryonicist physician) and Alcor, among others.
Phoning Alcor Christine got voicemail (Bill Faloon had given money to Alcor on the condition that all calls be answered by a person), so she then phoned Alcor's emergency number, which resulted in immediate calls (within 5 minutes) from Sayer Johanson, Aaron Drake, Eric Vogt, and Blake Honiotes. Alcor's Medical Director (Blake) initially refused to speak to Christine. Blake could not be convinced that she was my Power of Attorney for health care, saying this could be changed at any time.
Christine called Brian Wowk who was also called by Blake. Brian sent an email to Alcor later that day (see below). When Christine called Blake back, he was then willing to talk. Blake insisted that the circumstances did not merit deployment insofar as I was on a helicopter on the way to Grand Junction for treatment. Blake also told Christine tha there were questions about my funding.
Sandra Russell evidently learned of my situation from Dr. Harris, so Sandra called Bonnie Magee. Bonnie, who had been Alcor's Financial Director for many years spoke to Alcor's Administrator Marji Klima. Marji told Bonnie that my $200,000 Canadian insurance policy had been lapsed for many years. I have paid my premiums diligently every January, and subsequently cofirmed that I wrote a check to my insurance company (ivari) in January 2022 (see attached), which cleared my bank account.
Alcor was sent a letter from ivari dated September 26, 2017 showing Alcor to be the 100% beneficiary of the irrevocable policy (see attached). I have requested that ivari send a 2022 letter indicating that my insurance policy is in full force (not lapsed) and that Alcor is the 100% beneficiary of the irrevocable policy.
If Alcor had reason to believe that my policy had lapsed, they should have informed me before this crisis.
I also have two eTrade accounts worth over $150,000 with Alcor as 100% beneficiary. When I was at the Alcor facility about five years ago I went to the office of Diane Cremeens to ensure that there was a record of Christine Gaspar being my Power of Attorney for health care in my file. At that time I gave Diane the password to my eTrade account so that Alcor could confirm my funding at a moment's notice. Alcor was sent letters from both of my eTrade accounts in 2017 indicating Alcor as 100% beneficiary (see attached).
Inexplicably, the beneficiary status was dropped for one of the eTrade accounts (the account with the most money), but not for the other account. No one at eTrade has been able to find the 2017 letters or explain why the beneficiary status was dropped for one account, but not the other. I have gotten eTrade to restore Alcor as beneficiary of the larger account, and to send a letter confirming this fact for 2022, similar to the 2017 letters.
A couple of years ago, when my Facebook account was hacked, I changed the passwords to my most important accounts, including the eTrade account. I phoned Diane and talked her through my new (complicated) eTrade password to insure that she would have access to the accounts. She confirmed that she had gained access to the account, but may or may not have replaced the old password in my file.
Someone told me that Alcor's lawyers informed Alcor that they could not keep the password to Alcor members' investment accounts, but I was never informed of this. Possibly Diane use the lawyer instructions to delete my updated password, without deleting the original password.
When I was recovering in the hospital I was able to give Marji (who only had the original password) the updated password to my eTrade to see my funding. But deployment was no longer required. I am still confused about Alcor's policy on retaining passwords.
Alcor is also the 100% beneficiary of my employee insurance at LifeExtension.
Christine was eventually able to reach our cryonics colleague and friend, Houston Westfall (who lives in California). Houston immediately made arrangements to fly to Grand Junction, get a hotel room, and rent a car. Houston visited me in the hospital every day. When I was released from the hospital, Houston had arranged for me to have a hotel room in the same hotel as he was using. We played basketball to help improve my eye-hand coordination.
I had to stay in the hotel long enough to get my luggage which was being shipped from Steamboat Springs. Houston flew with me to Florida, and drove me from the Fort Lauderdale airport to my apartment using my car. Houston stayed in Florida for about a week, driving me around as I needed before returning to California.