Dr. Kent Brantly with his wife Amber
Dr. Kent Brantly, a medical missionary who was contaminated with the Ebola virus while doing missionary work with other Ebola patients in West Africa is one of the few people who survived and fully recovered from the virus. In a meeting with NBC, Dr. Brantly had the opportunity to share about his experience while recovering from the disease and how he is currently praying for another doctor that was contaminated.
Dr. Brantly was working with SIM USA as a physician, which is a global Christian aid organization. He was dispatched to Liberia, where he was working with his partners to quell the Ebola virus in the area. He himself however, fell victim to the disease. After testing himself he came out as positive and secluded himself from other patients to prevent the virus from spreading any further.
He notified his wife, Amber about the situation and was eventually transferred back to the United States. Amber Brantly told NBC about how she felt when she first encountered the news. "I knew what was coming. I had seen him treat these people who had already been diagnosed. And I knew how it ends. I knew how everyone had ended up so far. So I had the disadvantage of having the knowledge of the course of the disease. I was scared."
After being brought back to America, Dr. Brantly was given ZMapp, an experimental drug. However he shared that what he relied on most while quarantined at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta was prayer. Two weeks later, the missionary was miraculously starting to get better and was soon discharged from his hospital.
Dr. Brantly told NBC that he still requires a great deal of recovering to do.
SIM USA announced that another one of their doctors was diagnosed with the Ebola virus. They did not reveal the doctor’s name, but assured the press that he is in “good spirits”. Dr. Brantly shared how distressed he was when his colleague was contaminated and that he will continue to pray for this doctor.
