An engineer who manages a South Pole research facility is fighting to be flown to a hospital to seek medical treatment for a suspected stroke she suffered in August.
Though Renee-Nicole Douceur has said that her employers haven't done enough to help her, the months-long ordeal could come to an end as early as Friday if a cargo plane lands at the station.
"Right now, they think there's a weather window, but the problem is that as the weather window opens up at Rothera Base, here at South Pole the weather is going to start to degrade," she told The Associated Press.
"There's an opening, but if they don't make that opening then it's probably going to be pushed on to next week before I get a chance."
Plans are in place to transport Douceur to a hospital in New Zealand when a plane departs the station in the coming weeks.
Douceur is the winter site manager for the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which is operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
The 58-year-old native of Seabrook, N.H., has been working at the facility for the past three years.
On Aug. 26, Douceur suffered what was believed to be a stroke, which left her with vision, memory and speech problems.
But Raytheon Polar Services Company, her employer, has not arranged an immediate flight out of the South Pole, deeming the stroke to be a non-emergency medical event.
Douceur consulted with doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the U.S., who advised that she should have been flown out several weeks ago. The doctors also suggested that a tumour could be behind her symptoms.
"I've always thought I was a tough cookie, a calm gal in the face of adversity, but now, that's making me rethink this," she said.
Initially, Doucer said that she lost half her field of vision. While she still has difficulty reading, she can now read slowly by concentrating on a few words at a time.
But she also suffers from the inability to remember simple lists and do simple tasks. In one case, an onsite doctor advised her to brush up on Grade 6 math when she couldn't count backwards from 100.
"Here I am, this highly educated nuclear engineer that took all different advanced math through my college years, and now my doctor's telling me to read a sixth-grade book?" she said.
"My intellect has been a key aspect of my entire life, and I'm not going to let myself get degraded to a sixth-grade level."
While Doucer said she is concerned about flying on a non-pressurized cargo plane, she said that the time to get out is now.
"I'm actually kind of jittery ... but I cannot wait any longer."
According to a Raytheon spokesperson, evacuating Doucer is a decision that rests with the National Science Foundation. Raytheon's statement added that onsite doctors are well-educated and are able to consult with peers in the U.S. through telemedicine.
"During the winter period, extremely cold temperatures and high winds make an extraction dangerous for all involved, passengers as well as crew, and such an extraction is considered only in life-threatening conditions," the company said.
Meanwhile, a National Science Foundation spokeswoman said that evacuations must be balanced with weather and safety.
"We are continuing to monitor the patient's condition closely and are prepared to consider alternative courses of action if merited by a change in condition, as determined by medical experts," the statement said.
Sydney Raines, the stranded woman's daughter, has created a webpage in an effort to draw attention to her mother's plea for help, as well as a petition to help get Douceur the help she is seeking.
While Douceur has not made it on a plane yet, the campaign has helped secure the presence of a medical attendant who will monitor the stroke victim when she is finally transported to hospital.
According to the website of the National Science Foundation, the scientists and support staff who work at the station are completely isolated from February through to late October, due to the extreme weather at the site.
