Today, March 8, International Women’s Day is celebrated. And as a doctor and science lover, I need to tell you about a doctor who went through a personal odyssey in which she had to face all kinds of problems to become the only person who has achieved that feat so far.
Today we will talk about Dr. Jerri Lin Nielsen (March 01, 1952 – June 23, 2009) and why she had to treat herself urgently for breast cancer (since you really liked the article in which we talked about self-surgeries, let’s continue with the same topic). Dr. Nielsen was a general practitioner with extensive experience in the ER and especially in minor surgeries that are performed in the ED.
The year was 1998 and our protagonist had managed to sign a contract that would lead him to be the doctor at the Amundsen-Scott base in the United States of America , which is practically located at the geographical south pole. To give you an idea of how out of hand the place is, in winter the population is 28 people and in summer 130 .
While spending her months stationed at the base, Nielsen discovered a lump on her breast. After connecting online with several of her colleagues in the United States, they told her that the best thing was for her to do a biopsy (yes, herself, since she was the only doctor) and to send the results to be analyzed . Unfortunately, although the biopsy went well, it took too long to analyze the biopsied material , so the problems had only just begun.
He needed new medical equipment, but weather conditions did not allow for a safe landing for US Army planes. After weeks and weeks of preparations, they decided to send him airdropped medical supplies with huge parachutes. Once she got access to the medical material, she performed a new biopsy (yes, that’s right, herself again) and her colleagues in the US confirmed that the lump she had indeed had cancer cells . Therefore, we had to get down to work, because the countdown had already begun.
After correctly explaining to his team how they had to help him in his treatment and making different algorithms on how they had to act if there were any complications during therapy, he began chemotherapy monitored from thousands of kilometers away.
Fortunately for her , in October of that same year, an army plane finally managed to land and evacuated Dr. Nielsen along with another colleague who injured his hip while maneuvering in open fields.
Once he arrived in the United States, after infinite treatments , surgical complications and other types of problems, he decided on a radical mastectomy and it seemed that the tumor and cancer had been defeated since there was talk of total remission of all the symptoms related to the Cancer.
Nielsen became a national hero and began giving motivational and self-improvement talks.
Unfortunately for our protagonist, in 2005 (7 years after her exploits) her tumor reappeared and this time with metastases in the brain, liver and bones , but despite all these problems she continued to travel and motivate other people. , traveled among other places to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Australia, Ireland, Alaska, Poland and even returned to Antarctica several times.
The year 2008 was when he made public that his tumor had reached his brain and Dr. Nielsen passed away in 2009.
Nielsen is a clear example of overcoming , evidence of how far we are capable of going to survive and a source of inspiration for us and future generations.
At this point I would like to end the article with a reflection and a question. Many times we think that we will not be able to survive, that we will not be able to face an illness and that we will not be able to overcome certain problems that arise in life. Put yourself in Nielsen’s shoes. Imagine that you are the only person who can heal you and that if you don’t, your life expectancy will be significantly reduced.
Would you dare to fight against all odds to survive? If you found yourself in that situation, what would you do?
References:
https://archive.org/details/icebounddoctorsi00niel
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/articles/200603/the-explorer-jerri-nielsen
