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I have seen first-hand the anguish and desperation of a young mother whose baby has been diagnosed with a life-threatening congenital heart disease for which, in her native country, there are few prospects for the specialized and prohibitively expensive open-heart surgery that is required.
I have also seen first-hand the joy of the same mother when she is able to listen, for the first time, to the regular, healthy beat of her baby’s healed heart — after successful open-heart surgery.
Not first-hand, but via the miracles of television and internet, I have also seen the anguish and panic of the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters of those who have been struck by one of the deadliest and most horrific diseases, the Ebola virus.
TIME writes that the fatality rate in the current outbreak of Ebola — “the worst in recorded history” — is slightly over 50% , with 2,473 cases and 1,350 deaths , while “previous outbreaks have hovered up to 90%.”
TIME then notes, “So it may seem hard to understand how someone can survive the disease, which attacks people’s organs and thins blood vessels.”
This week, we hear that two Americans who contracted Ebola while on an aid mission in Liberia and were evacuated to the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for unique and specialized treatment have been released “and are now virus-free.”
Of course, we are delighted that Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol have hopefully been cured and saved.
Of course we are delighted that scores of children from some of the most remote and impoverished regions on earth are brought to the United States each year for heart surgery.
However, we must not forget that there are millions more children around the world in dire need of specialized treatment.
Even though he has been cured, and obviously grateful for and delighted about it, Dr. Brantly realizes that there are thousands more who at this moment have very little to be grateful for or to be delighted about.
Again, TIME:
Thanks largely to the quality of care they received, Brantly and Writebol are alive, giving hope that the virus can be conquered in patients with pointed care. But that type of assistance isn’t always available in the areas where Ebola is spreading fastest. “Please, do not stop praying for the people of Liberia and West Africa,” Brantly said on Thursday, in a plea for the public not to forget those who won’t have a recovery similar to his.
No comments are necessary, just hoping that our readers realize — despite our many gripes and “problems” — how fortunate we are in these United States and that they will say a little prayer for those not as fortunate.
Thank you.
Again, Dr. Brantly:
Above all, I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life and I’m glad for any attention my sickness has attracted to the plight of West Africa in the midst of this epidemic.
Read more about the Ebola virus outbreak here.
Lead image: www.shutterstock.com
