Polar Doc Rescuers Battle Time, Weather

April 17 -- With an eye on the weather and on the clock, four Canadian pilots are on a mission of mercy to the bottom of the world to rescue an American doctor suffering from a life-threatening pancreas condition at a South Pole research facility.

The rescue mission, comprised of two planes, is en route from Canada to Ecuador in South America for its first refueling stop before embarking for southern Chile, and then on to a British airbase in wintry Antarctica.

Then there is still a 10-hour flight to the South Pole, where Dr. Ronald Shemenski, 59, an American doctor, is suffering from the potentially life-threatening condition at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station.

Shemenski, the only doctor at the research station, has pancreatitis, a painful medical condition that affects the pancreas and has several detrimental side-effects.

Pancreatitis is normally surgically treated, but given the spartan conditions at the station, experts have advised against surgery.

Shemenski's only chance of survival is the medical rescue team racing against time from Calgary, Canada, and which must overcome the 24-hour nights and brutal cold of the Antarctic winter to make it to the station.

Anytime, Anywhere, World-Wide

Weather is the major hurdle. Last week, three U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo planes that left bases in the United States for the South Pole were forced to turn back.

"You're looking at minus 50 [degrees Celsius] below and any windchill that adds to that, you could be looking at about minus 90," said Technical Sgt. Scott King of Travis Air Force base.

The unyielding weather forced rescue organizers to switch to Kenn Borek Air Ltd., a Calgary-based airline company whose motto is "Anywhere, Anytime, World-Wide."

On Monday, Kenn Borek Air Ltd. dispatched two de Havilland Twin Otter aircraft for the long trip to the research base.

The first refueling stopover will be made in Ecuador, after which the crew will fly to Punta Arenas, at the southernmost tip of Chile, refuel again and then head across the Drake Passage to a British scientific base called Rothera, situated on Adelaide Island just off the Antarctic peninsula.