Crevasse fall in the Antarctic: a patient's perspective

As a veterinarian working on an Adélie penguin research program, I was to spend six months on an island off the coast of Mawson Station in the Australian Antarctic Territory. During a field training exercise on my third day at Mawson, I fell into a crevasse with my four-wheel-drive quad bike and was crushed between the bike and the crevasse wall six metres below the rim. I had hypothermia and abdominal injuries, and underwent two emergency surgical procedures at Mawson Station. Sixteen days after the accident, I was evacuated by helicopter and ship. Here, I describe my experiences.