Dr. Jerri Nielsen wants people to know that “to change your life, you just need to change your mind.”
Nielsen received international fame in 1998 for performing an emergency biopsy on a cancerous tumor in her breast while isolated at the South Pole, but said that surviving the polar frosts of Antarctica and performing surgery on yourself are hardly necessary to prompt life changes. More importantly, she advised not to wait until something like cancer threatens your life before you appreciate it.
That was the lesson Nielsen brought to a sold out luncheon at the Memphis Botanic Garden Thursday, sponsored by Methodist Healthcare Cancer Center to raise money for their Breast Care Program.
Nielsen signed copies of her book “Ice-Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole.”
In her speech, Nielsen touched briefly on the operation, but the crux of her talk covered the lessons learned from surviving cancer and living in Antarctica.
“Cancer is like that,” said Nielsen. “It can be a good thing. To change your life you just have to change your mind. Some of us can’t see that and we have to be pushed down so we can get back up again.”
Nielson said her journey began when she became bored, mostly with her work as an emergency room doctor.
She saw an ad asking for a doctor to accompany a team of 41 National Science Foundation researchers to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station for the winter.
Nielsen said she immediately knew it was for her.
“I wanted to explore the last frontier,” she said. “I wanted to be Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”
She found polar life to be comically inconvenient, but beautiful too, especially at night when green auroras filled the sky.
“It’s there in that total silence you can hear yourself, the voice of God, whatever you want to call it,” she said. “You can’t hear it here ‘cause it’s too darn noisy.”
It wasn’t long before she noticed the lump in her breast. At first she didn’t worry about it, as she knew it would be at least eight months before any planes could break through the harsh weather. Still, the cyst kept growing to the size of a hen’s egg.
Nielsen said she knew medical action was necessary, but she was the only doctor around.
She began communicating with doctors back in the States via email. She then arranged to do a biopsy by setting up a live video hook-up with doctors in Denver. The plan was to draw tissue from the mass, transfer it to slides, stain the slides to see the cells and then transmit images of the slides back with a video microscope.
During the surgery, a welder assisted her and she took painkillers. An emergency supply of chemotherapy drugs were dropped off to her when the November weather broke enough to let a plane through.
Nielsen said it was in that time facing death that she gained an understanding of what life is really about.
“When you realize the river is stronger than you, you can find peace, and that’s what we’re all looking for,” she said. “Why not it in the middle of life rather than at the end?”
Famed Memphis doctor and 2002 mayoral candidate Larry Flynn said he was so impressed with Neilsen he was there to get his book signed.
“She’s not just amazing as a doctor or as a woman, but as a person,” said Flynn. “It just goes to show what can be in a person. She didn’t know she had that (much bravery) in her.”
