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American Woman Stricken At South Pole Is Now In New Zealand

<p>Renee-Nicole Douceur in October 2010, in Antarctica. </p>
Renne-Nicole Douceur
/
AP

Renee-Nicole Douceur in October 2010, in Antarctica.

"An American woman who became ill while working at the South Pole has been evacuated by plane to New Zealand for medical treatment," The Associated Press reports. "Renee-Nicole Douceur tells the AP in an email sent Monday morning that she has landed in Christchurch and is scheduled for tests on Tuesday."

Douceur, a researcher from New Hampshire, is 58. As WMUR-TV writes, "she believes she suffered a stroke in late August. ... Douceur has been waiting ever since to fly off of the South Pole to receive better medical attention."

Her daughter and a friend have been updating the Save Renee website with news about her condition and the effort to get her off the Pole. Today, they note that "this [was] not a special flight for Renee, it's the first regularly scheduled cargo flight of the season."

Douceur has been managing a Raytheon Polar Services Co. research station for the past year.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.