Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury marked International Women's Day on Sunday with a poignant tribute to an American physician who was diagnosed with cancer. The 55 year old honoured Jerri Lin Nielsen in an emotional Instagram post, who died at the age of 57 in 2009. She had self-treated her breast cancer while stationed at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica until she could be safely evacuated over 27 years ago.

The host also shared Jerri's story during her three-part ITV docuseries Wonders of the Frozen South. The candid post comes just weeks after Julia made a tragic admission following her own cancer battle.

She began: "To mark International Women's Day I'd like to celebrate the extraordinary story of the American doctor Jerri Nielsen. My new series heading to Antarctica for ITV brought her story into my orbit. In 1999 Jerri Nielsen was the only physician wintering at the Amundsen‑Scott South Pole Station, responsible for the health of about 40 colleagues.

During the long, dark winter, when no planes could land, she found a lump in her own breast. Isolated with no external help, she contacted doctors back home by satellite and, with their guidance, taught her male colleagues how to help her perform a breast biopsy on herself. It was confirmed she had breast cancer."

She continued: "A rescue aircraft later dropped chemotherapy drugs by parachute, and she administered the treatment to herself while she continued to care for the rest of the crew. She survived the winter and was evacuated when conditions allowed.

Her cancer later returned, and she died in 2009, around ten years after that first self‑diagnosis at the South Pole.

In the coldest, most isolated place on Earth, this woman achieved something incredible, and continued while treating herself and healing, to take care of others. I can't imagine how afraid she must have felt going through a breast cancer diagnosis in this situation. What a story [heart emoji]."

Her 332,000 followers rushed to the comment section as they praised Jerri's achievements.

Julia's heartfelt message comes just days after she took to the picture-sharing site and gave fans a health update.

The presenter had discovered a lump on her back in 2021 following her breast cancer diagnosis. It was later confirmed to be a benign lipoma.

She wrote: "I was so overcome by a breast cancer diagnosis back then that I put this lump to the back of my mind (& I couldn't see it all the time because of its location)."

Julia explained that she is now looking into having it removed, adding, "It's benign luckily, but there is a small risk that it can transition into a rare cancer called lipoasarcoma, so I'm looking into having it removed. The outer membrane is damaged and it's in an awkward place where it gets knocked around a lot.

Please don't put anything off. If you've been ignoring a lump or bump, or an ongoing headache or pain for a while, it's worth getting it checked!"

The former Countryfile star had also undergone a mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction, an operation to remove a 6cm tumour, and chemotherapy.

The presenter, who was filming for her upcoming series, Julia Bradbury’s Wonders Of The Frozen South, told the MailOnline: “The sky was pink in the Antarctic summer, there were icebergs on the horizon and a solitary humpback whale, idling about and blowing spouts."

In a heartbreaking admission, she added, “I was sitting there thinking, ‘When I’m old, this is something I want to tell my grandchildren about…’ and that made me realise that I was living my second life, the one after cancer, to the full.”