In the winter of 1925, a small Alaskan town called Nome, situated on the edge of the Arctic circle, found itself on the brink of an unimaginable crisis. An outbreak of diphtheria threatened to wipe out the entire community of 1,400. Nome’s lone physician, Curtis Welch, feared that if the infection spread, it could put at risk the surrounding communities totaling more than 10,000 people. A large number of these were natives who had no resistance to the disease.

To make matter worse, Dr. Welch’s stock of diphtheria toxin had expired several months earlier. Welch had already place an order, but the shipment was delayed and now the winter had set in and closed the port due to ice. This meant that Dr. Welch would have to wait until spring when the ice thawed.

Huskies pulling a dog sled. Photo: Angyalosi Beata/Shutterstock.com