Dr. Jerri FitzGerald, author of Ice Bound, has died

Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, author of one of the greatest South Pole survival stories, Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole, died June 23.

In 1999, Dr. FitzGerald was reeling from a bitter divorce and worn out from her long hours as an ER doc when she answered an ad for a physician at the National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott research station. In May of that year she discovered a lump in her breast and, with the help of a welder and a maintenance worker, performed a biopsy which tested positive for breast cancer. She began chemo but couldn’t leave the station until the temps went from 118 below zero to minus 60. A daring rescue by the NY National Guard brought her back to the US where she did well until her cancer returned in 2005. Ice Bound is her spellbinding recounting of this incredible effort to save a life.

Dr. Fitzgerald was 57.