Wim hof has a lot of stories, hard to tell which ones are true or not unfortunately.

Unlikely. The issue is cold and the speed of the cold. Children have a higher surface-to-mass ratio along with less subcutaneous fat which allows them to cool quickly. The article quotes the breakpoint:

  If water temperature is >6 °C (43 °F), survival is unlikely for submersion >30 minutes.

And even still, it isn't like the child came out unscathed.

CPR and a boatload of epinephrine, it seems.

That passage bears quoting at length, it's where I really teared up:

> At initiation of ECMO, the boy's rhythm was asystole. The boy was rewarmed with an ECMO heat exchanger-patient gradient ≤10 °C. [...] As the patient's temperature approached 22 °C (72 °F), low-frequency and low-amplitude sinusoidal electrical deflections were noted on his electrocardiogram. As the patient continued to rewarm, these phasic electrical deflections slowly increased in frequency and amplitude. At approximately 28 °C (82 °F), sinusoidal deflections organized into more classic cardiac electrical activity reminiscent of sinus bradycardia with a wide complex. Amiodarone, calcium gluconate, magnesium sulfate, bolus epinephrine, and epinephrine and norepinephrine infusions were administered. After further rewarming, sinus bradycardia developed and ultimately progressed to normal sinus rhythm...

Weird! I wonder if there is some exponential complexity going on. More neural pathways leaving more stuff that can potentially break from an uneven freeze/thaw? Or is it literally that the freezing and thawing can't happen evenly when you're too big? A brief transistional period with unfrozen outsides and frozen solid insides is probably not great for you.

The timeline lists "Sled tracks seen to broken bond ice, EMS called" at 16:44. He was pulled from the water at 18:57. The article text further clarifies:

Parents discovered sled tracks from home onto broken pond ice through which he fell.

He left the house at 16:00, which is why they give the range of 147 to 177 minutes.

It seems below about ~80F you lose consciousness. This kid was nearly half that. Moreover, there have been other similar cases: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32482520/

I have a similar view on general anesthesia now, everyone i know(including myself) that has had operations have been permanently affected by anesthesia.

Turning yourself off breaks far more than doctors realize i fear.