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Surviving Ebola Prepared Me for Covid-19
Fighting a deadly disease taught me the value of reflection
The early days of infectious disease outbreaks demand immediate action. Even after managing the initial chaos, it can be difficult to catch your breath and find time to reflect. Unless you end up in the hospital with nothing else to do.
In late 2014, I spent 19 days battling a virus that kills the majority of people it infects. In the beginning, every day brought more bad news. Liver failing. Then kidneys, too. Feeling weaker and weaker. Time paradoxically slows down when the odds are you’ll be dead in a few days. A health care provider in full protective gear comes in a few times a day to deliver more bleak news. After they leave, all you’re left with are some failing organs and a lot of time to think.
I was hospitalized with Ebola shortly after returning home from Guinea where I was working as a doctor in an Ebola treatment center. Every day for six weeks I woke up at 6 a.m. At 7 a.m I walked the dusty path to the local treatment center. By 8 a.m. I was wearing my protective gear, and just a few minutes later, I was confronting death, without fail. Every day.
During the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, horrific images of people dying in front of Ebola treatment centers were splashed across TV…
