Fire and Ice - Part II

When the news broke about Dr. Jeri Nielsen being trapped at the South Pole with breast cancer, her name did not at first make the papers, but "the media's appetite for news about the 'mystery woman' with the lump in her breast had become insatiable. I was still hoping that I could remain anonymous. . . the last thing I wanted was to be remembered as the 'woman with the lump."

No danger of that from anyone who reads this book. It should be self-evident that a woman who signs on to be the sole doctor for a team of researchers at the bottom of the earth, where six months are spent in darkness, planes can only get in and out four months of the year, and you don't need deodorant because you wear so many layers of extreme weather garments, it is unlikely that anyone will smell you, such a woman is likely to be above the norm.

Dr. Nielsen was an Emergency Room specialist, opting for the life of medicine in the war zone of Saturday nights. After freeing herself from an abusive marriage, which lost her her children, she needed to make a clean start. That's when she saw the ad for a doctor.

Her equally adventurous parents and two brothers supported her in this new venture and were provided the emotional support that she needed when she needed it most: from the time four months into her mission, when she discovered the lump.

The book is not a "how I got cancer and survived" story. It's the story of The Ice, the people who are drawn to it and the comradeship that develops in their little, closed society. It is also a description of day to day life at the Pole.

The book was written by Maryanne Vollers. Ms. Vollers has several bestsellers to her credit, one of which was nominated for a National Book Club Award. She has written for Time, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Rolling Stone, GQ, and many other magazines noted for excellent writing.