‘Frozen Solid’ for 6 Hours Yet She Survived; What’s the Science Behind the Story of This Woman Who Survived the State of Hypothermia?

If not for this man named Wally Nelson's prompt response, Jean Hilliard might have just become one of the thousands of fatalities that are chalked up to hypothermia each year. Rather, her story became a part of scientific interest and medical mythology.

As indicated in a Science Alert report, back in 1980, early one New Year's Eve morning in Minnesota, Nelson "stumbled across the body of his friend," lying in the snow only a few meters from his door.

The car of the 19-year-old Hilliard had stalled while going back to the house of her parents following a night out. Dressed in a little more than a winter coat, cowboy boots, and mittens, the woman set out into the minus 22 Fahrenheit night air to seek assistance from her friend.

At a certain point, she tripped and lost consciousness for six hours. That long, the lady's body laid in the cold, warmth drained away to leave her, by some accounts, "frozen solid."

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(Photo: Pexels/Vlad Chețan)
A woman survived being frozen for six hours.

Hypothermia

Hilliard's story stands out because of the extreme nature of her "state of hypothermia, " which is detailed in a Mayo Clinic report. Forget the temperature of her body was 27 degrees Celsius, a full 10 degrees lower than that of a healthy person.

Apparently, she was frozen, with her face ashen, skin reportedly extremely hard to be pierced by a hypodermic needle, and eyes solid.

According to George Sather, the physician who treated her, her body was cold, totally solid like a piece of meat just taken out of a deep freeze.

Yet within just a couple of hours, warmed by heating pads, the woman's body returned to a healthy state. She was already talking by noontime, and with slightly more than some numb and blistered toes, she was soon discharged to live what's described as an "unremarkable life unaffected by her "frozen" experience.

Scientific Explanation

Different from many materials, water takes up a greater volume as a solid than and how it does as a liquid. Such an expansion is not good for the body tissues caught in the cold as the liquids they contain risk swelling to tearing their containers.

Even a few lost or abandoned ice crystals that bloom at the wrong site can pierce cell membranes with their needle-like shards, diminishing extremities to the dead skin and muscle's blackened patches, or what is commonly known as "frostbite."

Many animals have evolved some nifty transformations to deal with the threats of sharp, expanding ice crystals in sub-freezing states.

A separate report from ScienceAlert specified that Antarctic blackfin icefish, deep-sea fish, produce glycoproteins as a kind of natural antifreeze.

For medical professionals persistent enough in trying their luck using a tinier gauged hypodermic on heavily constricted veins, specifically, if thin layers of hydrated skin cover them pressed tightly against stiff muscles, one might even imagine one to two bent needles as an effective approach.

One can only speculate whether the "frozen body" of Hilliard was usual, if shocking, or indeed oddly distinctive in its ability to endure such an extreme shift in state. There is no doubt, though, that she was fortunate.

Related information about hypothermia is shown on Nabil Ebraheim's YouTube video below:

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