She wasn't as famous as Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett or even Billy May's. Yet her courage and can do attitude when she was faced with a bizarre
and life threatening situation shows her to be an extraordinary and truly courageous human being. Perhaps the current attitude of who the public looks up to in
this country, is messed up?
Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald
By GEORGE GRAHAM
SOUTHWICK - Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald was remembered Wednesday for her full-tilt approach to life.
Nielsen FitzGerald, celebrated around the world for her courage in dealing with the discovery of her breast cancer as the lone medical officer at a South Pole research station, died at her home here Tuesday surrounded by family. She was 57.
"She lived her life as if every day was her last. She gave so much of herself to so many of us," Carol A. Leary, president of Bay Path College said. "That's the beauty of Jerri Nielsen."
Leary said she got to know Nielsen FitzGerald back in 2004 when she was a keynote speaker at Bay Path's annual women's professional development
conference.
Nielsen FitzGerald had just undergone surgery a few days before she was scheduled to speak, Leary said.
"She never let anybody know," Leary said. "She got up on that stage and gave one of the most riveting presentations I think our participants have ever heard. ... That audience, it was so silent when she gave her presentation."
Leary said she kept in touch with FitzGerald and her husband, Thomas, over the years.
"When she made a friend she kept a friend," Leary said.
Nielson FitzGerald was serving at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica in 1999 when she diagnosed herself as having breast cancer. Because of the severe weather conditions Nielsen could not be evacuated for eight months, so she and others used e-mail instructions, makeshift equipment and supplies dropped by plane to treat the disease.
Nielsen FitzGerald performed an initial biopsy on herself, assisted by a welder she trained in surgery.
The events and her courage captured worldwide attention.
She documented her ordeal in the best-selling book "Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole." It was later made into a TV movie.
After multiple surgeries in the U.S., including a mastectomy, her cancer went into remission until 2005.
Nielsen FitzGerald was well-known at Noble Hospital in Westfield where she received services.
"Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald was an intelligent, well-read physician who was very aware of the gravity of her diagnosis," said Dr. Philip T. Gynn, director of Oncology Services at Noble. Despite the burdens of treatment, she managed to continually be grateful for each day, and for the loving care of all the people around her, he said.
Nielsen FitzGerald spoke at Bay Path's commencement a few months after her participation in the women's conference. She urged the graduates to not be passive about life.
"I challenge you to live," she said at the end of her commencement speech.
"The only thing that matters is: Did you live? Do you really live? Did you make a choice?"
A private memorial service will be held in the future.
The station was cut off from the world due to severe weather, so Dr Nielson was forced to treat herself using a machinist and a welder, and anti-cancer drugs which were delivered to her in a dangerous US Air Force air drop.
She also trained a small group of non-medical colleagues to help with her treatment and followed the advice of doctors via satellite link.
In 2003 she told an interviewer: "I got really sick. I had great big lymph nodes under my arm. I thought I would die."
It was reported earlier this year that Dr Nielson performed her own biopsy with the help of her hastily trained team, who practised using needles on a raw chicken.
Her dramatic rescue four months after finding the cancer was televised and captured massive attention worldwide.
After multiple surgeries back in the US, including a mastectomy, she went into remission.
Since then Dr Nielson used her experience giving motivational lectures and wrote and autobiography.
But the cancer returned in 2005.
Her husband Thomas Fitzgerald announced that she died at around 4:00am (local time) at their home in Massachusetts surrounded by friends and family.
Her sister-in-law Diana Cahill says she became very ill over the past month.
"She would want to be remembered for the adventure and living every day, and not just the sickness," she told CNN.
"She was very much active and still even doing talks as late as March of this year."
Friends recall Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald of Southwick, doctor who found she had breast cancer when she was stranded at South Pole
by The Republican Newsroom
Wednesday June 24, 2009, 5:15 PM
Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald
SOUTHWICK - Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald was remembered Wednesday for her full-tilt approach to life.
Nielsen FitzGerald, celebrated around the world for her courage in dealing with the discovery of her breast cancer as the lone medical officer at a South Pole research station, died at her home here Tuesday surrounded by family. She was 57.
"She lived her life as if every day was her last. She gave so much of herself to so many of us," Carol A. Leary, president of Bay Path College said. "That's the beauty of Jerri Nielsen."
|
Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald Dies from Cancer
|
Nielsen FitzGerald had just undergone surgery a few days before she was scheduled to speak, Leary said.
"She never let anybody know," Leary said. "She got up on that stage and gave one of the most riveting presentations I think our participants have ever heard. ... That audience, it was so silent when she gave her presentation."
Leary said she kept in touch with FitzGerald and her husband, Thomas, over the years.
"When she made a friend she kept a friend," Leary said.
Nielson FitzGerald was serving at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica in 1999 when she diagnosed herself as having breast cancer. Because of the severe weather conditions Nielsen could not be evacuated for eight months, so she and others used e-mail instructions, makeshift equipment and supplies dropped by plane to treat the disease.
Nielsen FitzGerald performed an initial biopsy on herself, assisted by a welder she trained in surgery.
The events and her courage captured worldwide attention.
She documented her ordeal in the best-selling book "Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole." It was later made into a TV movie.
After multiple surgeries in the U.S., including a mastectomy, her cancer went into remission until 2005.
Nielsen FitzGerald was well-known at Noble Hospital in Westfield where she received services.
"Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald was an intelligent, well-read physician who was very aware of the gravity of her diagnosis," said Dr. Philip T. Gynn, director of Oncology Services at Noble. Despite the burdens of treatment, she managed to continually be grateful for each day, and for the loving care of all the people around her, he said.
Nielsen FitzGerald spoke at Bay Path's commencement a few months after her participation in the women's conference. She urged the graduates to not be passive about life.
"I challenge you to live," she said at the end of her commencement speech.
"The only thing that matters is: Did you live? Do you really live? Did you make a choice?"
A private memorial service will be held in the future.
Antarctica breast cancer doctor dies aged 57
Posted
Updated
An American doctor who diagnosed and operated on herself after discovering she had breast cancer whilst working in Antarctica has died aged 57.
Dr Jerri Nielson Fitzgerald diagnosed herself when she was the only doctor working at the National Science Foundation's Amundsen-Scott Station in 1999.The station was cut off from the world due to severe weather, so Dr Nielson was forced to treat herself using a machinist and a welder, and anti-cancer drugs which were delivered to her in a dangerous US Air Force air drop.
She also trained a small group of non-medical colleagues to help with her treatment and followed the advice of doctors via satellite link.
In 2003 she told an interviewer: "I got really sick. I had great big lymph nodes under my arm. I thought I would die."
It was reported earlier this year that Dr Nielson performed her own biopsy with the help of her hastily trained team, who practised using needles on a raw chicken.
Her dramatic rescue four months after finding the cancer was televised and captured massive attention worldwide.
After multiple surgeries back in the US, including a mastectomy, she went into remission.
Since then Dr Nielson used her experience giving motivational lectures and wrote and autobiography.
But the cancer returned in 2005.
Her husband Thomas Fitzgerald announced that she died at around 4:00am (local time) at their home in Massachusetts surrounded by friends and family.
Her sister-in-law Diana Cahill says she became very ill over the past month.
"She would want to be remembered for the adventure and living every day, and not just the sickness," she told CNN.
"She was very much active and still even doing talks as late as March of this year."


