The subtitle of this book is A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole. Incredible, astonishing, unbelievable – almost any superlative will work.

I came upon Ice Bound while perusing the New Book section at my local library. I recalled the story – a female doctor, while working at the South Pole, had found a lump in her breast. Due to the extreme weather conditions she was unable to be rescued, so she had to rely on email instructions and the support of her comrades to make the best of her situation until help arrived. I was sympathetic to her cancer experience, but what compelled me to read this book was the locale of the adventure, a place I am sure I will never see.

The story is essentially broken up into three parts – first, what brought Dr. Jerry Nielsen to the South Pole in the first place; second, what life is like at the Pole; and third, her discovery of the lump and subsequently of the cancer that would hasten her departure and bring her story to the world spotlight.

Jerry Cahill was the oldest of three and the only girl in a close Ohio family. We learn that she was adventurous from an early age. She was a natural athlete and would persevere at any goal she set for herself, something that would help her tremendously in later years. She made two life altering decisions at the age of 23 – she entered medical school, and she married a fellow med student.

Her marriage was an unhappy one by Dr. Nielsen’s account, and when it ended 23 years later she had three children who would soon be alienated from her, due to her ex-husband’s obsession and jealousy. This, plus her dissatisfaction at her job as an ER doctor lead her to take notice when she spotted an ad on the back pages of a medical journal -- Polar Medicine. Physicians Needed for U.S. Antarctic Program.


The job called for a full year of work at one of the three American bases in Antarctica. Half the time would be spent in isolation and darkness of the austral winter. I felt a prickling sensation up and down my skin, like the kind of physical excitement a child feels at the sight of a bicycle under the Christmas tree. I read the words over and over again, and my pounding heart told me this was what I had been looking for without knowing it.


Now, I would look at an ad such as this and think “Not me, buddy”. I can think of hundreds of other places I would rather be than the South Pole. I like to think I’m adventurous, but the words isolation and darkness coupled with Antarctica fall under the heading insane in my book. That said, I can appreciate her desire for drastic change, and I admire her for seizing the opportunity and going for it.

She soon has the hurry-up interview with the Antarctic Support Associates(they are desperate for a doc), and she says her goodbyes to family and friends. At this point in the book you are convinced this is the right decision for her. She’s qualified, she knows the challenges she is about to face, and you know you’ll be reading a great story. The reader isn’t dwelling on the cancer situation, but instead can hardly wait to read what the experience of wintering over at the South Pole is really like.

And what an experience. Chapter 3 is titled Great God, This Is an Awful Place. Oh yeah. A Polie (those that spend the winter isolated at the Pole) isn’t included in the survival training class. Instead they are told If you end up outside in the night, you die. The Polies live in the Dome, which is unheated and works to shield the bone chilling wind from the inner buildings. During the summer, the temps are around 35 below zero. More than two hundred people live at the Pole, many doing construction on the new base. The summer is a somewhat active time, with airplanes landing regularly and Internet service linking the Polies to the rest of the world.

Winter is different. Once the sun goes down darkness ensues for months and the temperature regularly bottoms out at 100 below, or colder. Just taking the trash out can result in a case of frostbite (remember, the Dome is unheated). Internet service is sporadic, at best, and no matter how well they plan precious commodities such as cigarettes and fruit are always in short supply. There is true isolation – no planes can land here for eight months, due to the extreme cold.

This a whole different world, where everything is handled in a specific and unusual way. The reader will learn how the Polies deal with relationships, food storage, entertainment, sex, waste disposal, recycling – you name it, it’s been dealt with and perfected. For example, strange medical phenomena would appear: hair would grow quickly, or not at all. Fingernails were “growing like claws”. Wounds were incredibly slow to heal, and the Polies discovered that Superglue worked better than stitches on a laceration, and did no apparent harm. I was so interested in these chapters addressing the living conditions at the Pole, and Dr. Nielsen intermingles anecdotes with facts quite seamlessly.

Dr. Nielsen rises to the challenges of a being a doctor on the Ice. We read of her small office and decades old equipment. The challenges of doctoring with so little at hand are apparent, and she conveys the situation to the reader with humor and grace. She is likable and as physically adept as any of her comrades, and fits in well from the start. She quickly bonds with a number of outstanding people who will be her strength within a short time, and soon she longs for the “summer-only” folk to leave, so those who will winter over will be able to really settle in.

The story delves more deeply into the relationships that develop once the darkness sets in, and I found myself getting a bit bored, albeit only slightly. It flowed smoothly, and parts were entertaining and/or interesting but I have to admit I wanted to read about any conflict they may have had with one another. Not necessarily gossipy tidbits, but some analysis of the likely results of being cooped up with the same people for months on end. The author describes some minor scraps, but I can hardly believe it was one big happy family all the time.


A month had come and gone since I first discovered a lump in my breast.


This is the first time in the book that she mentioned finding a lump. I went back to see if I had missed something – a first shock, that wave of dread a woman feels when she feels something “different”. But I hadn’t, and I wish she had shared what that moment had been like. Perhaps it was too personal, or perhaps she wasn’t concerned at first. In time, she realizes this is something to definitely be worried about, as the lump became painful, then grew to the size of a hen’s egg. She hooks up with an oncologist, Dr. Kathy Miller, through a mutual friend back in the States, and soon begins a correspondence via email that would sustain her spirit as well as offer much needed medical guidance. Between the email correspondence, her lump biopsy, the dangerous air drop that brought much needed medicine (and fruit!) to the Polies, Dr. Nielsen shares her philosophy on death, especially death at this time in her life, and possible death at the Pole, among what she considers by this time to be her true family. I never got a good grasp on her relationship with her children, who never contacted her throughout her ordeal. I realize there are two sides to every situation, however, and this is one issue with Dr. Jerry Nielsen which remains private.

The rest of the ordeal is well known courtesy of the world media – first began the headlines of a doctor with a lump in her breast being stranded at the South Pole; then her identity revealed, which caused hardship for her family in Ohio; her self administered chemo; finally her rescue, 8 months after her South Pole adventure began.

I enjoyed reading Ice Bound immensely, and I came to admire the people who winter over at the Pole. I may not understand them, but their grit and determination to face the challenge is inspiring. Of course, most uplifting is Dr. Jerry Nielsen, who faced death by choice and by fate, and in the process bettered herself and those who might learn from her. Her prognosis? I will leave that to those who are interested in reading Ice Bound.










Recommended: Yes