Gunnar Kaasen, a Norwegian musher and his lead dog Balto, who delivered diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, saving the city from an epidemic, 1925…
This image is tied to one of the most dramatic public health emergencies in American history, the 1925 serum run to Nome. That winter, diphtheria threatened the isolated Alaskan town, where frozen seas and blizzards made ship travel impossible and aircraft unreliable. Without antitoxin, children in Nome faced near certain death. The only solution was a relay of dog sled teams carrying the serum across roughly 674 miles of subarctic wilderness.
Gunnar Kaasen was one of more than twenty mushers who participated in the relay, but his final leg became the most famous. Battling whiteout conditions, extreme cold, and hurricane force winds, Kaasen relied almost entirely on his lead dog Balto to navigate the final stretch into Nome. Roads vanished beneath drifting snow, visibility collapsed, and a single wrong turn could have been fatal. Despite the conditions, the team arrived in the early hours of February 2, 1925, delivering the serum in time to halt the outbreak.
The run quickly captured international attention and became a symbol of endurance, cooperation, and trust between humans and animals. While later accounts sometimes oversimplified the story, the reality was a collective effort that showcased how fragile life was in remote communities and how ingenuity and grit could overcome geography itself.
The dogsled relay ran nonstop for just over 5 days, more than twice as fast as any previous winter delivery to Nome, and helped prevent what doctors feared could have killed hundreds.
Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
canisgallicus 