The dispute between site manager Renee-Nicole Douceur, the National Science Foundation and the operator of the base, Raytheon Polar Services, has been simmering since Douceur said she suffered a stroke on Aug. 27. Both Raytheon and the science foundation say that it would be too dangerous to send a rescue plane to the South Pole now and that Ms. Douceur’s condition is not life-threatening. From McMurdo, it's another four-hour flight to Christchurch, New Zealand, the closest city with advanced medical facilities. Since then, Douceur's family has set up a website to gain support for her cause and enlisted the aid of U.S. Sen. Jean Shaheen, D-N.H. She's also hired an attorney to help her plead her case. Douceur is a 58-year old retired nuclear engineer from Hampton Falls, N.H. She said she has spent several years working in Antarctica managing the two U.S. bases, but was making her first 12-month stay at the South Pole. But if the problem is a hemorrhaging vessel, more damage could still occur, “because that blood vessel is feeding brain that’s undamaged yet.” 
 
 The most famous instance of a person being airlifted from the South Pole for medical reasons was that involving Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, a doctor who treated herself for breast cancer for months while stationed at the American research station. She died in 2009 of a recurrence of breast cancer. Temperatures at the pole are currently around 58 degrees below zero, with a wind chill of close to minus 87, according to a weather website operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "In considering whether to attempt a very risky emergency medical evacuation during the challenging winter season in Antarctica, NSF must always balance the patient's condition with the possibility for injury or the loss of life of the patient, the flight crew and personnel on the ground at South Pole against the potential benefits to the patient," an NSF spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement. She says she is worried about the effects of flying on her already oxygen-deprived brain and wants a medical professional on board. Flying into Amundsen-Scott during the Antarctic winter, which runs from mid-February until late October, is indeed dangerous, said Col. Ronnie Smith, a former Air Force navigator who has flown there about 300 times.
– A compelling story out of the US South Pole station: Manager Renee-Nicole Douceur says she has suffered a stroke and needs to be evacuated for proper treatment, but the National Science Foundation says it won't be safe enough to send in a plane for at least a few more weeks. The 58-year-old Douceur and her family are now making a public push to pressure the NSF and the company that manages the base, Raytheon Polar Services, to move. The push includes a website and a Facebook page, and Douceur has given interviews to Discovery and the New York Times among other media outlets. A few quotes tell the tale: Douceur: "I'm just hanging in there and I'm looking out my window and it's nice and clear bright and sunny. I'm saying to myself why isn't there a plane here to get me out of here today or even yesterday?" Raytheon spokesman: “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.” Douceur's niece: “My question back to them is, By what standard is a stroke considered a nonemergency?”