Time Magazine Names 'Ebola Fighters' As 2014 Person of the Year
Time Magazine has named its 2014 Person of the Year as the "The Ebola Fighters," saying their persistence and sacrifice make them true heroes.
The magazine' editor, Nancy Gibbs, explained why the magazine chose to honor Ebola fighters as its 2014 Person of the Year, an annual feature that has been happening since 1927.
Gibbs outlines several people working on the front lines in West Africa to contain the contagious disease that is currently claiming thousands of lives in countries like Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Gibbs points to the heroes of the epidemic as being the "Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Christian medical-relief workers of Samaritan's Purse and many others from all over the world fought side by side with local doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers and burial teams."
Dr. Kent Brantly, a doctor working for the Christian organization Samaritan's Purse in Liberia, was one of the aid workers named as Person of the Year by Time. In his own words for Time, Brantly detailed his experience with contracting Ebola, being diagnosed with the disease, and choosing to be treated with the experimental drug ZMapp, which ended up being successful in helping him survive Ebola.
Brantly wrote that he would like to use his experience to find some sort of opportunity for redemption.
"When I thank God for saving my life, I am not unique in that. If you watch videos of survivors in Liberia, so many of them thank God for saving their lives. I chose a career in medicine because I wanted a tangible skill with which to serve people. And so my role as a physician is my attempt to do that," the aid worker wrote.
"I'll probably get tired of talking about my experience some day, but I went to Liberia because I long felt it was my vocation to spend my career as medical missionary. Deep in the core of my heart, I still think that's my calling. I don't want to go on with life and forget this."
Brantly's heroism has been celebrated here in the U.S., with his home town of Tarrant County, Texas naming December 9 as official Dr. Kent Brantly Day.
"I am incredibly humbled," Brantly said of the honor.
