The
story of the American
woman doctor who
discovered a fast-growing
cancer in her body while
at the height of the
winter season at the South
Pole gripped much of the
world in the Antarctic
winter of 1999-2000. Dr.
Jerri Nielsen wrote a book
in which she gave
inspiration to her two
"dead doctors,"
pioneer Antarctic
physician explorers
Frederick A. Cook and
Edward Wilson.
Serving
as doctor to the Americans
"wintering over"
at the South Pole in 1999,
Dr. Nielsen made headlines
when she discovered a lump
in her breast that a
self-administered biopsy
revealed to be cancer. No
flights in or out of
Antarctica are possible
during the continent's
long winter, and Nielsen's
account of giving herself
chemotherapy while she and
her fellow "Polies"
waited for the weather to
break is even more
gripping than the news
reports at the time. She's
candid about her pain and
fear; the media battle
waged by her embittered
ex-husband made her ordeal
even more challenging.
Amazon.com
reviewer Wendy Smith said
that Nielsen's book, Icebound:
A Doctor's Incredible
Battle for Survival at the
South Pole (Talk
Miramax, 2001) "was
high drama [which] does
not overshadow Nielsen's
deeper narrative of a
woman who came 'to the
Ice' seeking new meaning
in a life shattered by
divorce and estrangement
from her children. In the
back-to-basics world of
Antarctic medicine, with
outdated equipment, few
supplies, and no
assistants, she
rediscovered her vocation
as a doctor, free from the
imperatives of
corporate-directed
medicine. More
importantly, Nielsen found
spiritual solace in the
world's most extreme
environment, where she was
'introduced slowly to the
notion of giving more than
you have and using less
than you need of knowing
that all you really own
are your thoughts.'"
Nielsen
soon found that two
predecessors in the last
years of the 19th century
and the new decade of the
20th gave her particular
meaning: "The first
doctor to reach the Pole
died on the way back, in
1912. Edward Wilson,
Scott's closest friend,
served as the artist,
geologist, and physician
on both the Terra Nova
and the earlier Discovery
expedition. He died in the
blizzard with Scott and
Bowers, so near the cache
of supplies that could
have saved them. Before
Scott froze to death, he
wrote to Wilson's wife
that right to the end, his
friend had 'a comfortable
blue look of hope' in his
eyes.'"
"A
framed picture of Wilson
hung on the wall in my
room. Beside it was a
photograph of Frederick
Cook, the first physician
to winter in Antarctica. I
called them, fondly, my
dead doctors. I would look
at them and wonder how
different their time here
was compared to mine and
yet how very similar. They
worked alone, caring for
their friends with no one
to consult and few
resources. For them also,
there was no way out. They
were already becoming a
source of inspiration to
me."
Society
President Warren Cook Sr.
sent a copy of Through
the First Antarctic Night,
which he inscribed to
Nielsen, during her book
lecture tour earlier this
year. In one of the
concluding chapters, Dr.
Nielsen relates how a
colleague took her picture
for his internet
newsletter:
"He
took it in the treatment
room of Biomed, sitting
between the photographs of
Frederick Cook and Edward
Wilson, my medical
predecessors on the Ice.
In my portrait you can see
exhaustion in my face, a
touch of sadness in my
eyes, and a wry smile on
my lips. I deliberately
chose the spot between my
Dead Doctors; it was a
grim joke only the three
of us shared."
Totally
captivated by the
nationally televised Dr.
Jerri Nielsen presentation
of her incredible battle
for survival at the
Amundsen-Scott South Pole
Station on Antarctica, I
immediately purchased and
read her best-seller, Icebound.
During the long winter of
1999, Dr. Nielsen served
as the sole head physician
responsible for the mental
and physical fitness of a
team of researchers,
construction workers and
support staff at the South
Pole station. She
ultimately discovered a
lump in her breast
resulting in critical
self-treatment measures
including biopsy and
chemotherapy and eventual
perilous rescue by the Air
National Guard.
Not
only did I find her story
to be spellbinding, but I
was very happy to discover
her following reference to
Dr. Frederick Cook;
"A
framed picture of Wilson
[Dr. Edward Wilson of the
Scott expedition group]
hung on the wall in my
room. Beside it was a
photograph of Frederick
Cook, the first physician
to winter in Antarctica. I
called them fondly my
'dead doctors.' I would
look at them and wonder
how different their time
here was compared to mine
and yet how very similar.
They worked alone, caring
for their friends with no
one to consult and few
resources. For them also,
there was no way out. They
were already becoming a
source of inspiration to
me."
Dr.
Nielsen is presently
traveling in an extensive
lecture tour so I have
corresponded with her
thorough the publisher and
I sent her a copy of Dr.
Cook's Through the
First Antarctic Night
on which I inscribed:
"I hope you will
enjoy my Uncle Fred's
recollections of his
participation in the
Belgica's voyage more than
a century ago. We were so
impressed that he offered
you silent inspiration
along with Edward Wilson
in your framed photo of
your 'dead doctors.'"
I strongly recommend that
you read Icebound.
