2 Planes On Way to Rescue Doctor at South Pole

Two military planes headed for the bitter cold of Antarctica on Thursday to bring home a doctor who for three months has been treating herself for a lump in her breast.

Dr. Jerrie Nielsen is the physician for a crew of 41 researchers at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. She is believed to have been treating herself with chemotherapy since mid-July, when drugs and medical equipment were air-dropped into a howling snowstorm.

Among those on the flight is a replacement doctor for the station. Researchers there are studying climate changes, astronomy and ozone hole depletion, said Julia Moore of the National Science Foundation. Researchers at the station discovered the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica in 1986, Moore said.

The five-day trip to the research station started Wednesday in New York. The planes’ next stop is Hickham Air Force Base in Hawaii, then on to Pago Pago, then to Christ Church, New Zealand, where the crews will stay until the weather is warm enough to continue to the South Pole.

When the temperature warms to minus 58 degrees, the plane will head toward the South Pole base.

“They’re not expecting to wait all that long for a break in the weather,” said Lt. Carie Seydel of the Travis public affairs office.

Two planes are flying to the South Pole in case there are mechanical difficulties, Seydel said. Only one will make the last leg of the trip, from Christ Church to the base.

There will be a staging area at McMurdo Station on the northern coast of Antarctica and, if the weather is still accommodating, the flight will continue from there.

After the plane lands at the base, the whole operation will take less than 20 minutes--just enough time for three people to get off the plane and three others to board, Seydel said.