American doctor cured of Ebola continues his work in Liberia

In this Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015 photo, Dr. Rick Sacra reviews patient cases with Dr. Anna Chon at the Family Health Center in downtown Worcester, Mass., where he advises doctors in training. Sacra contracted the deadly Ebola virus while delivering babies in a missionary-run hospital in Liberia a year earlier. He was the first of America’s handful of Ebola survivors to return to West Africa last January. He also went in April and July to work at a hospital outside Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, and plans to return in November. (AP Photo/Philip Marcelo) In this Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015 photo, Dr. Rick Sacra reviews patient cases with Dr. Anna Chon at the Family Health Center in downtown Worcester, Mass., where he advises doctors in training. Sacra contracted the deadly Ebola virus while delivering babies in a missionary-run hospital in Liberia a year earlier. He was the first of America’s handful of Ebola survivors to return to West Africa last January. He also went in April and July to work at a hospital outside Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, and plans to return in November. (AP Photo/Philip Marcelo)

By Associated Press September 25, 2015 3 min read

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) – This time last year, Dr. Rick Sacra was given a second chance at life.

On Sept. 25, 2014, the 52-year-old Massachusetts physician had just been discharged from an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital after being treated and cured of Ebola.

Sacra had contracted the deadly virus while delivering babies in a Christian mission hospital in Liberia. Rushed back to the U.S., he spent three weeks suffering through fevers, vomiting, diarrhea and aches.

Sacra says his faith gave him peace through the uncertainty.

“Of course I knew that I might die,” he told The Associated Press this week, reflecting on the ordeal. “It made me very aware of how grateful I am for every day I’m given.”