Jerri Nielsen

Jerri Lin Nielsen (née Cahill; March 1, 1952 – June 23, 2009) was an American physician with extensive emergency room experience, who self-treated her breast cancer while stationed at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica until she could be safely evacuated.

In 1998 during the southern winter, when the station is physically isolated from the rest of the world, she developed breast cancer. Nielsen teleconferenced with medical personnel in the United States and had to operate on herself to extract tissue samples for analysis. A military plane was dispatched to the pole to airdrop equipment and medications. Her condition remained life-threatening, and the first plane to land at the station in the October spring was sent weeks earlier than scheduled, despite adverse weather conditions, to take her to the U.S. as soon as possible. Her ordeal attracted great attention from the media, and Nielsen later wrote an autobiography recounting her story.

The cancer went into remission, but recurred seven years later, eventually causing her death in 2009 from metastatic brain disease, eleven years after initial diagnosis.

Early life and education

Born as Jerri Lin Cahill in Salem, Ohio on March 1, 1952, 25 miles from Youngstown, Ohio, Nielsen was the oldest child and only daughter of Philip and Lorine Cahill, who raised their family in a rural area just outside Salem. She studied pre-med at Ohio University in Athens before entering the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo and graduating with a medical degree.

While at Ohio University she also met Jay Nielsen, whom she subsequently married.