Dr. Jerri Nielsen was the sole physician at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station during the 1998 winter-over, a period when temperatures plunge to 76 below zero and no flights can enter or leave for months. A former emergency room doctor from Ohio, she had come to the ice seeking a clean slate after a difficult divorce, hired to be the crew's only safety net.

When she discovered a mass in her own breast, her medical expertise became a psychological nightmare, forcing her to perform self-biopsies over primitive 1998 satellite links. This deep dive reconstructs how she turned a research station into a makeshift cancer ward and rallied a team of non-medical staff to help.

• The failed first biopsies using outdated station supplies and inconclusive transmitted images
• The dangerous Air Force airdrop guided by burning barrels on ...