Ebola Virus Survivor Returns To Colorado
DENVER (CBS4) - A woman from Evergreen whose fight with Ebola gripped the nation is back in her home state of Colorado.
Nancy Writebol and her husband, David, were doing missionary work in Liberia when she became ill. They were helping Liberians manage the Ebola crisis through their mission SIM, which is based in Charlotte, N.C.
Writebol decontaminated doctors and nurses outside an Ebola isolation ward. She said learning she contracted the often-fatal disease prompted unfamiliar questions.
"You just wonder every day: 'How much longer will I be able to survive this?' " she said.
Her husband delivered her diagnosis to her.
"It's not an easy thing to look into the eyes of the love of your life and give her such bad news," David said.
She was first diagnosed with malaria. Doctors checked to rule out Ebola and that's when they discovered she also had the virus that's killed thousands during the current outbreak in western African countries and infected at least four Americans.
Writebol was airlifted from Liberia. There she was given an experimental serum along with some very good care and many prayers, and she managed to survive.
But it wasn't easy.
"It got to the place where I wondered if I was going to survive. There were many nights when I lay my head on a pillow and I just told the lord 'Lord, I don't know whether I'm going to wake up here on earth tomorrow or in your presence,' " she told CBS4.
LINK: simusa.org
