“It felt like there was certainty I wouldn’t survive.”
Dr. Kent Brantly said those were his thoughts when he was diagnosed with the Ebola virus in July 2014.
Brantly, a medical missionary with Samaritan’s Purse and a TIME Magazine Person of the Year, visited Harding on Tuesday as a featured American Studies Institute (ASI) speaker and also gave a press conference.
In his presentation on Tuesday evening, Brantly shared the story of his move to Liberia, work there, diagnosis and recovery.
Brantly worked at Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) hospital in Monvoria, Liberia. He was the first American patient with Ebola brought into the U.S., and described the disease as “humiliating.”
“It strips victims of dignity before it kills them,” Brantly said. “I was vomiting blood and had blood in my diarrhea. I had the worst headache of my life.”
Other symptoms included a nearly 105-degree fever, rash, breathing difficulties and the inability to control his bodily functions. Brantly said that, as a doctor, seeing these symptoms and understanding what something like blood in stool meant made it more drastic.
Despite these painful physical symptoms, Brantly said one of the biggest struggles throughout his recovery was the isolation. During his time in Liberia, he stayed in his home and spent many long hours by himself.
“When my caretakers came, all I could see was their eyes and all I could feel was the latex of their gloves,” Brantly said. “They were putting themselves at risk. At Emory (hospital), it was a relief that a nurse could be there 24 hours a day and I could see their faces not just their eyes.”
From Liberia, Brantly was flown to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. where he completed his recovery.
He said that when he returned to the U.S., he was “fortunate to be oblivious to the events surrounding (his) re-entry.”
Brantly said his recovery and experience with Ebola, dramatically changed his life.
“Our actions have a global impact,” Brantly said. “We are called to love our neighbors and have compassion. The epidemic is not over. We need to not give up and go back to normal.”
Senior Victoria Snell is Brantly’s cousin. After looking up to Brantly her entire life, she has now seen his story broadcasted to the whole world.
“As most of my family discussed over these last couple of days, it’s still surreal,” Snell said. “It’s still weird to see his face on the big screens or to overhear his name mentioned in public by complete strangers. But, Kent would be the first one to tell you it’s not about him or the recognition, it’s about the story of God’s incredible faithfulness. That’s the coolest part to me, not that the whole world recognizes the name ‘Kent Brantly’ but they recognize, through a story … God was and still is the center piece of it all.”
