When we die and stop breathing, our brain and nerve cells start dying within minutes because they don’t get oxygen anymore.
But after death, the body doesn’t shut down all at once. It enters a phase called the “twilight of death.”
First, the brain and nerve cells go. Then, within an hour, the heart, liver, kidneys, and pancreas stop working. The skin, tendons, heart valves, and cornea hold on a bit longer—they can last for about a day. And strangely, white blood cells keep working for nearly three days before finally giving up.
So, in a way, some parts of your body live just a little longer than you do.
But that’s not the creepy part.
A few hours or days after death, something strange happens. Genes suddenly start “waking up” and copying themselves into RNA—the first step of gene expression. And the effects of this are deeply unsettling.
For years, doctors have noticed that people who get donor organs—like livers—sometimes have a higher risk of cancer. Now, scientists believe there may be a link between this strange “twilight of death” gene activity and cancer risk.
In a desperate attempt to survive, some of the dead body’s cells fight to stay alive. They start repairing themselves, trying to hold on. But in this chaotic process, they go out of control—and that’s how cancer may start forming in the organ that will later be transplanted.
It’s almost as if the death of the donor transforms into cancer in the recipient. A final echo of its original owner, trying to live again—
And ready to grow.