Ice Bound

The 2001 Ice Bound book is the true story of Dr. Jerri Nielsen and her self-discovery and survival at the coldest and darkest place on earth. She was the only doctor at the South Pole in 1999 when she performed a breast biopsy on herself and then began chemotherapy treatments, with the help of her close-nit group of friends, to battle breast cancer.

The book gives insight into living at the coldest, darkest and harshest place on earth within an isolated community and the obstacles they had to overcome in addition to the cancer. It also highlights the importance of family and friends combined with the pain of a mother estranged from her children. Choosing to live at the South Pole and then battling breast cancer in such a desolate place was inspirational to say the least. However, for me, it was reading about a mother estranged from her children who learned to live life to the fullest and continue to help others with that void in her heart that really hit home.

At the end of the book, she had returned to the United States, completed her cancer treatments and had still not seen her children. I looked her up on the Internet and learned that she wrote this book, which was also made into a TV movie, became an international motivation speaker, and remarried following her adventures at the South Pole. She was still speaking three months before she died on June 23, 2009. In a Washington Post e-article she was quoted as saying, "There is no end of your life until your last breath. We can all do something to help someone." I agree.