Six feet above and filled with silicon

By now you’ve either heard of or been to Body Worlds, the creepy-but-educational exhibit of actual dead human bodies currently showing at the Franklin Institute.

And, you know, after seeing the exhibit (or the photo at left), I’m sure you thought about it, decided it was either really neat or really weird (or both), and moved on. But if you were either 19-year-old Chrissy Jenks or 31-year-old Shawn Petri, you would look at the bodies and go, “Sign me up!”

Yes, two local residents (one originally from Berks County and the other from Montco, so they’re “local” in the NBC 10 dictionary) have signed up to have their bodies plastinated after death. In Plastination, which was invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the bodily fluids are replaced with silicon, preserving it. The two bodies will be used for research or in a display like the one currently at the Franklin Institute.

That’s about it, although 6,500 people have signed up for this process since the early 1980s, so Petri and Jenks have to get in line, I suppose. The best part of the entire press release is this:

Both body donors are proceeding with plans to inform their entire families about their wishes, change their living wills, and possibly even participate in the body donor program’s annual meeting with Dr. von Hagens in Heidelberg, Germany.

“Excuse me, Aunt Valerie? Just so you know, after I die, my body is going to be filled with silicon and possibly put on display at a museum or an institute. And also perhaps used in an advertisement for said display. Just thought you’d like to know.”

Full release after the jump.

Two Pennsylvania Residents Volunteer for BODY WORLDS Donor Program

January 19, 2006 – Philadelphia, PA — Chrissy Jenks, a 19-year-old nursing student at the University of Delaware, originally from Berks County, and Shawn Petri, a 31-year-old financial planner from Montgomery County, will become part of an elite group who will defy conventional rules of death. They recently joined 142 other Americans to become registered donors for Plastination, the process invented by anatomist, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, that halts decomposition of the body after death, replaces bodily fluids and fat with silicon, and preserves it for conceivable eternity. Dr. von Hagens, creator of the BODY WORLDS exhibit now showing at the Franklin Institute, founded the Institute for Plastination (ifp), in Heidelberg which manages the Body Donation Program that prepares plastinated specimens for medical institutions around the world as well as for public display in the Body Worlds exhibits.

“For me, there is no purpose for the body to be buried or cremated after death,” explains Jenks, whose father passed away three years ago from cancer, spawning her interest in medical studies. Already an organ donor, Chrissy was introduced to plastinated organs by one of her nursing professors at the University. “If I am to donate my body to a place where people can learn from it, I feel I am contributing to the advance of medicine even after I pass away,” Jenks continues.

Petri, 31, was so taken by his visit to BODY WORLDS during its opening week, that he promptly sought out information about its body donation program. “I have always had a strong interest in the meaning and purpose of the body and what happens after we die,” explains Petri. “This, combined with the strong desire to push my body’s limits, made Gunther von Hagen’s body donation program an ideal option for me.”

Each and every body on display in BODY WORLDS belonged to people who declared during their lifetime that their bodies should be made available after their deaths for the education of physicians and the instruction of laypersons. Since Dr. von Hagens, began his donor program in the early 1980’s, over 6,500 donors around the world have signed up to will their bodies for Plastination. There are several reasons people give for making their donation, he says. “They wish to be of use to humanity and science, or they take issue with the whole idea of decomposition, or they do not want traditional or religious burials.”

Both Petri and Jenks understand the Plastination process, which replaces the body’s natural fluids with reactive plastics. After a body is carefully dissected and transformed through the Plastination process, it is carefully posed for its optimal teaching value. Both body donors are proceeding with plans to inform their entire families about their wishes, change their living wills, and possibly even participate in the body donor program’s annual meeting with Dr. von Hagens in Heidelberg, Germany. There are a total of five body donors from Pennsylvania, from Douglasville, Arnold, McKeesport, Mohnton and Sanatoga.

“BODY WORLDS is a joint work, a collaboration between the donors and myself, and all those who view the exhibit,” said Dr. von Hagens. “All of humanity owes the donors a great deal, for without them, there would be no BODY WORLDS,” said Dr. von Hagens.

Body Worlds [Franklin Institute]