She is the doctor who discovered she had breast cancer in Antarctica and operated on herself to biopsy the tumor. The cancer metastasized five years later to her liver, bones and brain:

Nearly a decade after she was rescued from a remote Antarctic research station after diagnosing herself with breast cancer, Dr. Jerri Nielsen died early Tuesday, her brother said. She was 57.

Read the rest of the article for an interesting description of what she did after she discovered the tumor in 1999.
It really stinks when cancer returns after the first bout. It seems like it should be enough suffering the first time but to have to suffer with it for five years seems beyond anything that anyone should have to bear. I think my treatment was bad enough but I know that if the cancer returns, it will probably be much worse. Knowing that, I found this pretty helpful:

“There is no end of life until your last breath. We can all do something to help someone.”

And this:

“I believe you’re always much better off knowing what the real truth is. I think it’s only then that you can come to grips with your illness, or with any difficult situation. Some people call this process ‘mourning.’ I prefer to call it tiring of the fear and the depression and the denial, and the fake optimism and the irritation of it all — and just saying, ‘Hey, I’m tired of feeling bad about this. Now I go on.’ ”

She was blessed to have had such a positive attitude especially since she had to live with it for so long.
It’s hard not to give in to the fear but for now I’m cancer free and I’m not going to worry about September until it arrives and I have to be tested. Until then I plan to enjoy my summer and wait for my hair to grow back in 🙂