I knew how it ends. Reporter but his faith was as close as ever. I said, god, i know you can save me. I know you can. Reporter well take you inside the race to save his life. It was a Freight Train coming down the railroad track. Reporter on an exclusive tour of the hot zone. And meet the people who risked their lives to save his. The number one thing on my list was to walk out of that room, and give my wife a hug. Reporter an nbc news exclusive. Saving dr. Brantly the inside story of a medical miracle. 3 f2 exclusiva de nbc, salvando luckiest men alive and dr. Kent brantly probably thinks there are two things for you no that. For that. A devout christian and a physician, hes a man of both. He was serving as a missionary doctor in liberia when he became infected. Dr. Brantly and the brave medical team that helped to save his life, tell for the first time the extraordinary story of how he was cured. i ¿ reporter there was a time during those days in liberia when you were really sick, that doctors didnt think you would make it through one of those nights. Were you aware of that . Yeah. Reporter did they talk to you about it . I dont think they ever said, kent, i think youre about to die. But i felt like i was about to die. Reporter kent brantly was fighting for his life because he was committed to saving the lives of others. Hes forever grateful to the heroic doctors and nurses who went to extremes to save him. And most of all to god serving others has always been his lifes mission an expression of his faith. Talk to me about faith. Talk to me about the role it plays in your life. Faith is central to my life. Ive grown up with strong christian, godly parents, who were the children of strong christian, godly parents and reporter so, its in your dna . Yeah. Reporter growing up in the indianapolis area, he was a 17yearold student at a Christian Academy when he went on his First Mission as an aid worker to kenya. In the years to come, there was no stopping him. Correct me if im wrong, but there was tanzania, haiti, uganda, nicaragua. What am i leaving out . Guatemala, el salvador. Reporter one of those trips inspired him to choose a career in medicine. I went on a mission trip for a couple of weeks to honduras and spent some time with a medical missionary. And i said, i think i can do this. Reporter in honduras, kent met a Nursing Student named amber carol. They married in 2008 as kent was finishing his medical degree. Theres this great picture of your wedding day. What was going through your mind on that day . I was just overfilled with joy. Hes the man i knew from when i met him that i wanted to spend the rest of my life with kent brantly. Reporter in october 2013, the brantlys, now the parents of ruby, 5, and stephen, 3, began a two year mission in monrovia, liberia, run by the evangelical Christian Aid Group samaritans purse. They say life there was good at first. We had so much fun. We lived real near the ocean. Reporter the brantly family developed new friends to go along with their new life. Among them, Nancy Writebol, an american missionary aid worker. Nancy was like a grandmother to our children. Nancy writebol had worked with a lot of missionary doctors. But even among heroes, kent brantly stood out. Kent is a wonderful. Hes brilliant. He is a bril yapt brilliant young doctor, and passionate. Reporter then, in march, everything changed. The brantly family was at a picnic with friends. And somebody sat down beside me and said, hey, did you hear . Did you hear the news about ebola in guinea . They had an Ebola Outbreak right next to the liberian border. Reporter an Ebola Outbreak. Perhaps the most frightening phrase in modern medicine. A deadly virus spread by bodily fluids. At least 3500 cases have been reported in west africa. Including about 2000 deaths. By early april the first cases surfaced in northern liberia. Now its real. Now its close. And how did that change your mindset and the mindset of everybody around you . We all were on high alert. Reporter although they lacked advance facilities to confront the threat of ebola, kent and his colleagues did what they could to prepare for the worst. Our Isolation Unit was set up in the hospital chapel, so a small building. We had handwashing stations with bleach solution everywhere. And we had all of our personal protective equipment that was provided by samaritans purse on the outside of that unit, and reporter what is that made up of . Heavyduty rubber boots, headtotoe suit, two pairs of surgical gloves that we duct taped around our wrists, a pair of goggles to cover our eyes and nose, and a heavy rubber apron to cover all of that as another layer of protection. Reporter then, on june 11th, ebola arrived at Kent Brantlys tiny hospital clinic in the person of a young woman named teresa. She was about 30. 27 maybe. Reporter and how sick was she when you first saw her . Very, very sick. She actually came in an ambulance with her uncle, who was also sick with ebola. It took us about two hours to get everything ready, to mobilize everyone. And during that two hours, her uncle died in the ambulance. So we went from having two ebola patients to having one. Reporter i would imagine the moment you opened your door of your hospital to that first patient, everything changes. It did. Theres a lot of fear around ebola. All of us have to admit that. And as i went up to the patient with my liberian colleague, i knew that was a critical moment for how the rest of our treatment of ebola patients would go. Reporter you walked up to that patient though in full protection. In full protective equipment. And i bent down, and i held out my hand to her, and i said, teresa, my name is dr. Brantly. Were here to take care of you. Were gonna take very good care of you. Nice to meet you. And that allowed my liberian colleague to also overcome that fear and say, okay, this is a person. This is not a disease. This is a person. Reporter within days, teresa was dead. One by one patients streamed into the hospital and died. Reporter for the first month and a half, we had one survivor. Reporter out of how many patients . Maybe 45. Reporter it was hard on the missionaries families as well. Sitting at home, i was fine. It was when he would call and say, im on my way home, that i would start thinking, oh, is it safe for him to do that . But i knew if he felt that it was safe for him to do that, then it was. He would come to the door and id just send him straight to the shower, change your clothes you cant touch anybody until you detox. Reporter so by july 20th, when the family was scheduled to fly to texas for a wedding, amber welcomed the break. But once again, kent chose to put others ahead of himself. And amber and the kids got on that plane and you didnt. Why didnt you go . With the workload that we had at that time, i couldnt afford to be gone for three weeks. I was going to follow them nine days later and be gone for a week and a half and be back. Reporter i would imagine amber and the children leaving had to be a very emotional moment. You know we didnt think that this is goodbye for the last time or we could face tragedy between now and the next time we see each other. Wed been living in this for a month and half now, and everything was fine, and we expected things to continue as they were. So i had no clue that was coming was coming. Reporter coming up his clinic would soon have another new patient. Dr. Brantly himself. But he and amber wouldnt know for sure whether it was ebola for a very long 72hours. What was that period of time like . I was really nervous. I kind of just drifted through the days. Theres a listerine® product for every mouth in your house. For cleaner, healthier mouths go beyond brushing alone. Listerine®. Power to your mouth ™. I hear its better to do most of your planting in the fall. What are you, a plant whisperer . Maybe. [ male announcer ] now get 10 off all stagreen products at lowes. All stagreen products at lowes. Its not every day that you find yourself at the corner of a little flu shot and a world of difference. When you get any immunization at walgreens, youll help provide a lifesaving vaccine to a child in a developing country through the un foundations shot life campaign. Thanks to customers like you, last year we helped supply three million vaccines to children in need. This year, help give even more. Its easy at walgreens. Simply get a shot. And give a shot. At the corner of happy and healthy. Reporter it was a living nightmare. Hundreds of people dying from a vicious Ebola Outbreak marching across liberia and west africa. At the epicenter dr. Kent brantly, who stayed behind when his family went on a vacation back to the united states. He saw ebolas ravages every day, patients vomiting blood, suffering from severe diarrhea and from organ failure, dying in front of his eyes. You said, i held the hands of countless individuals as this terrible disease took their lives away from. Them. I witnessed the horrors first hand and i can still remember every face, every name. Thats a lot to live with. It is. But you know these were people that we were trying to serve medically. Trying to give them the best chance for survival. But we were also trying to minister to them spiritually, trying to support and encourage them. Reporter in the makeshift Isolation Unit run by the missionary aid group samaritans purse, kent and his team were exhausted. Yet one night, to fight the misery, kent sang to a patient whod just lost two daughters. And as i sang that song to her, she just gave a head nod of affirmation and squeezed my hand. Unfortunately she passed away a few days later, but for those few days she had some level of peace, some level of dignity and comfort. Reporter what was the stress put on the staff . How many hours were you working . I mean, were people having a chance to take any breaks . Or was this simply so intense that there was no relief . We agreed to split 12 hour shifts, but those 12 hour shifts usually turned into 16 or 18hour shifts as there was always more to do. Because there were patients to be tended to in the hospital or patients to be evaluated in the emergency room that the nurses were concerned might be ebola patients. So that was a very stressful and trying time. Reporter it became even more so on wednesday, july 23rd. It was three days after kent had kissed his family goodbye at the airport. I woke up that morning, and really i just felt a little off. I took my temperature and it was 100 i think. Reporter as you took your temperature feeling a little off in the back of your mind was there was a possibility . There was always the possibility. Reporter a possibility terrifying but remote, that somehow he had contracted ebola. But i really thought, i probably have malaria. I probably forgot to take my malaria medicine for a few days. We had been working night shifts. There were a lot of mosquitoes. Reporter yet a few hours later, his fever rising kent tested himself for malaria. The result was negative. And in this strange world of ebola, that was not good news. He called another doctor at the hospital. He said, okay, ill send somebody over. And what he meant was, im going to send somebody over to suit up in full personal protective equipment, and come in, and draw your blood so we can do an ebola test. Reporter can you describe how odd a feeling that was . You were the guy in that protective suit for all those months treating the other patients. And here, the door opens, and two of your colleagues wearing that suit, full protective gear, are coming in to draw your blood. Yeah i mean we joked back and forth as they came in. I had pretty big veins. I said, you know, i can draw this for you if you want me to, if you dont want to do it. Reporter kent usually called amber every day, but not this day. He purposely did not call me till the next day when his first ebola test had come back negative. And he called to tell me he was sick but his test was negative. But he didnt want me worrying in the meantime. Reporter kent needed one more blood test 72 hours later to be confident he didnt have ebola. And as the hours ticked by, he kept feeling worse. And what was that period of time like between that negative first test and waiting for the returns of the next test . I was really nervous. I just kind of drifted through the days. Reporter kent was getting weaker by the minute. Overwhelmed by nausea he could barely stand up. As a precaution, no one was allowed in without protective gear. These are photos of his house under quarantine. On saturday, july 26th. Three days after kent began feeling sick, one of his doctors knocked on the bedroom window, peered inside and called his name. And he said, kent, bud, ive got your test result. Im really sorry to tell you its positive. That was a very surreal moment. I was sick. My mind was a little cloudy. But my first comment was, okay, whats next . Whats the plan . And how am i going to tell amber . Reporter coming up the power of love. Im too young to become a widow. My kids need their daddy. Reporter and faith. I said, god, i know you can save me. I know you can. Obile. And to make it easier, well even buy out your whole familys contract. The sprint family share pack up to 10 lines for 100 a month simply put its the hottest deal in wireless. Come in to a sprint store today. Bathroom is trashed andboys in adrien is stuckr party. Cleaning again. Uhoh, dudes. Come in lets get this party started. Lets bubble we dont just kill 99. 9 of germs. Were also approved for tougher cleaning jobs. 99. 9 of germs and approved for tougher cleaning. Thats a reason to celebrate. You really think they need one . We work hard so you dont have to. Sc johnson, a family company. The simple grains of rice krispies®. Oooo good. Theyre made with rice. Theyre popping a gentle grain thats easy for little tummies to digest and fun to eat. Kelloggs rice krispies®. Use chase freedom at gas stations this quarter and get 5 cash back. So you can keep rolling in style. Activate your 5 cash back at chase. Com freedom chase. So you can. Reporter it was july 26th. In liberia dr. Kent brantly had just received lifealtering news. Hed tested positive for ebola, one of the worlds deadliest viruses. His wife and children were in texas. When did you make the phone call to amber . It was pretty quickly after that. And to be honest with you, i dont remember that phone call. Reporter but amber will never forget it. I had worried all day. Then when he did call to tell me he had ebola i dont know, i cant describe that. I was i knew it was coming. Id seen him treat these people. He had already been diagnosed. And i knew how it ends. I knew how everyone had ended up so far. So i was scared. Reporter amber, a nurse, yearned to be at her husbands bedside, but kent considered it a blessing that his family was more than 6,000 miles away and safe. That would have been an overwhelming mental burden, if i had woken up sick, laying in bed next to my wife, with one of my children snuggled up next to me. Reporter have you in your mind, kent, figured out to the best of your ability, how you were exposed to the virus . I am thoroughly, 100 convinced i did not get exposed to ebola in the Isolation Unit. Our process was safe, but i was still having to evaluate suspected cases as they presented to the emergency room. And i tried to protect myself to an appropriate level, but i know there were times where maybe i didnt have full protection while i talked to the patient or while i counseled their family and maybe put the arm around the daughters shoulder. Reporter no matter how he got it, he was now gravely ill and alone. Kent put his life in gods hands. As i sat there facing my own possible death from ebola, i said, god, i know you can save me. I know you can. But even if you dont, i want to be faithful to you. I wont deny you. Reporter his faith would be tested even further. Kent wasnt alone in his fferin. Nancy writebol, the woman kents children considered a surrogate grandma, was also sick. The same day kent was diagnosed, nancy received a doubledose of shocking news from her husband, david. He said, nancy, kent has got ebola. And my heart sank. And then david said, and so do you. And david went to hug me and put his arms around me. And i knew how dangerous that was. And i just said, dave, dont. Just dont. Reporter both nancy and kent had no illusions about what lay ahead. So, as i developed bloody diarrhea and vomited some blood and developed a rash and my eyes got red, i was still looking at it through my doctor eyes, thinking, okay, what symptoms going to come next . Reporter well, let me ask you this. As a doctor who treated all those patients, had you ever treated a patient who had that type of symptom who survived . I hadnt. We had only had one survivor at that point. He never had any of the symptoms. Everyone who deals with ebola knows that once you start having hemorrhagic symptoms, your chance of survival goes down drastically. Reporter he had one lifeline, daily calls to amber via facetime. She had to be wondering, and you have to be wondering, will i ever see her again . We spent a lot of time on those next few days staring at each other on the computer and talking. My memory of details of a lot of that time, its foggy. She was more cognizant of that than i was, that this might be the last time i see him. Reporter there was a time during those days in liberia when you were really sick, that doctors didnt think you would make it through one of those nights. Were you aware of that . Yeah. Reporter did they talk to you about it . I dont think they ever said, kent, i think youre about to die. But i felt like i was about to die. I remember very clearly laying in my bed with labored breathing, breathing very fast and having a hard time breathing. And my body was shaking, just violent shivering rigors. And i couldnt control it. And i said to the nurse who was taking care of me, im sick. I have no reserve. And i dont know how long i can keep this up. Reporter back in the united states, amber could only pray. Was there a particular prayer that brought you comfort . I was real incapable of coming up with any other words on my own except, lord, please, they need him. Thats what i could pray. Thats all i could pray. They need him. Im too young to become a widow. My kids need their daddy. While amber and so many others prayed, the race to save dr. Brantly had begun. Coming up help from the heavens above. An unprecedented rescue operation. And a shot seen around the world. I was so proud of him. I watched him come off that ambulance. I didnt expect to see him walking. I knew how sick he was. If youre suffering from constipation or irregularity, powders may take days to work. For gentle overnight relief, try dulcolax laxative tablets. Ducolax provides gentle overnight relief, unlike miralax that can take up to 3 days. Dulcolax, for relief you can count on. Dulcolax, for relief you can count on. Sometimes, caring for your neighbors means going the extra mile. When our patient, susan, mentioned her dad couldnt make it in to Pearle Vision to get his eyes checked. We went to him. And we realized, if he had trouble getting new glasses. He probably wasnt the only one. To us, eye care is about living dr. Pearles legacy. Building a trusting relationship with the person behind the eyes. This is genuine eye care, right in your neighborhood. This is Pearle Vision. Reporter as dr. Kent brantly fought for his life in liberia, franklin graham, the president of samaritans purse, the charity kent had gone to liberia to work with, was nearly 8,000 miles away in alaska. He was devastated to hear dr. Brantly had contracted ebola. It had to be, honest with you, one of the toughest days of my life because i knew what ebola was. And it was a death sentence. And my heart sank. Reporter graham decided they needed to bring kent back to the united states. Hes coming home. And hes coming to the best medical care that the world has to provide. Reporter no one had ever flown an ebola patient to this country. Graham needed to get clearance from multiple government agencies. That would take several days. He was terrified they might not get a specially equipped medical plane to kent in time. The clock is ticking. We thought we were gonna lose him. Reporter and then in liberia, brantlys doctors were able to get their hands on an experimental drug from america. It was called zmapp. It had never been tested on humans, and there was only enough medicine for one person. The way the story was played here in the states, kent, was that they came to you and they said, we have one treatment course. And you said, give it to Nancy Writebol. Is that what happened . So that did happen on the wednesday when i had been sick for a week. And on that day, i was starting to feel a little stronger. I thought i was improving. So this was not a heroic gesture of sacrificing myself on behalf of nancy. Im getting out of here, back to america, and i want her to survive. Reporter all right, gallows humor here. There was no part of this story, i wondered when i heard this story. So it was, let her have it because shes sicker, it wasnt, this is experimental. Im not taking that. Give it to nancy. Right. No, there was i was more scared that i was going to lose my friend than i was of my own death. Reporter nancy agreed to be the first person to try zmapp. The serum was frozen when it got to us and so they put it underneath my arm to defrost it naturally. And then came in and got it and said kent is really, really sick. Reporter kent had taken a turn for the worse. The doctors decided to take a risk and split the zmapp between kent and nancy. Kent got the first dose on that thursday, july 31st, eight days after his first symptoms. Did you immediately feel different . Did you feel better . It was actually after that infusion started that the shaking became violent. And that lasted about 30 minutes. After about an hour, the rash actually started to fade a little bit. And what i remember is that i was able to get up and walk to the bathroom, which i hadnt done in a day and a half. Reporter but he was still very ill, far from being cured. The race to save him was on. That saturday the plane finally arrived in liberia. Inside, kent was sealed in an isolation pod. They gave me a little walkietalkie radio that i could talk to them on. And they hooked me up to monitors that they were watching outside of the pod that could give me i. V. Fluid. Reporter 13 hours later the plane touched down in atlanta, the first time a known ebola patient had arrived in the u. S. He was headed to Emory University and to a hospital that has one of the most sophisticated Infectious Disease control facilities in the country. Kent brantly was making history, although he was too sick to know it. When that ambulance pulled up at emory and you were escorted off that ambulance, did you hear the helicopter . No. Reporter you didnt know that there was a news helicopter hovering over, taking pictures of the First American with ebola to come back to this country . I was focused on putting one foot in front of another. Reporter waiting to treat him, a team of more than 100 at Emory University hospital. Theyd been training for this moment for years. We spoke with a group of them. Theyre discussing the case in detail for the first time. Youre all volunteers, right . Yes, yes. Reporter the ebola virus is as dangerous as it gets. Did any of you have any trepidations . The first thing that goes through your mind is, this is a virus which is associated with a 90 mortality. Reporter dr. Marshall lyon and it sort of gets you a little bit. And then, sort of the rational training kicks in. And you realize that this is not you know, were not going to expose ourselves to this. Reporter but many outside the hospital were fearful that the virus could not be contained, starting a catastrophic ebola epidemic in this country, just like it had in parts of africa. Dr. Bruce ribner i had a tsunami of negative emails coming to my university account. And they were accusing me of threatening the health of the united states. Reporter did it give you pause at all . I was pretty comfortable in what we were doing. And it was concerning to me that there were this many people who had this much misinformation about this Infectious Disease. Reporter shortly after kent arrived at the hospital, so did amber. She still couldnt touch her husband. But she could at least see him. He looked so good. He was redeyed, and rashed, and super swollen, and laying in the hospital bed, but he looked the best ive ever. Reporter to her eyes, maybe. But his doctors knew better. Now all their training, equipment and facilities were about to be tested. Coming up risking their lives to save his. I was in his room drawing lab work and got a blood splash on my tyvex. Reporter and an exclusive look inside the hot zone. Can i touch something in here . L the only prefilled insulin pen with no pushbutton extension. Levemir® lasts 42 days without refrigeration. Thats 50 longer than lantus®, which lasts 28 days. Today, im asking about levemir® flextouch. female announcer levemir® is a longacting insulin, used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. Severe low blood sugar can be serious and lifethreatening. Ask your doctor about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. Other possible side effects include injection site reactions. Tell your doctor about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions. Check your blood sugar levels. Your insulin dose should not be changed without asking your doctor. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, sweating, extreme drowsiness, dizziness, or confusion. male announcer todays the day to ask your doctor about levemir® flextouch. Covered by nearly all Health Insurance and medicare plans. An extraordinary burger with heaps of jalapenos. Ered. Now for just two dollars. They also discovered the phenomenon of economnomnomics nomnom. Nom . Mcdonalds dollar menu and more. Its economnomnomcial. Alright. Im goin klondike. You wno. Im good. Wouldnt want to spoil my dinner, or anything. Yeah i totally get that. Makes sense. More ice cream. More summer fun. Walmart. Heres a good one seattle. What did geico say to the mariner . We could save you a boatload foghorn sounds loudly whats seattles favorite noise . The puget sound foghorn sounds loudly all right, never mind doesnt matter. This is a classic. What does an alien seamstress sew with . A space needle foghorn sounds loudly continuously oh come off it captain geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Reporter through this door is the unit that we heard so much about for the last four to six weeks . This is the special Isolation Unit at Emory University hospital. Tv cameras have never passed through this door before. This is the preparation room, if you will. Reporter this week, dr. Bruce ribner, the units founder and director, gave me a tour. So once you go through this door, if there were a patient in there you would then have to have one of those full protective suits on . Precisely. Reporter so this is where kent brantly this is where kent brantly spent approximately three weeks. Reporter can i touch something in here . Absolutely. Reporter okay. This room has been completely sanitized reporter okay. Since kent left. So everything were doing, were watching each other for safety. Reporter nurse jill morgan showed us the tedious but critical steps the team took to help each other suit up before crossing the red line that marks the hot zone. And you can see its quite a production. Reporter it was in one of those suits that she held out her hand to kent when he arrived at the unit. When he came in he was very sick. I think the morning or two before that he thought that he probably was going to die soon. Reporter shed written a message for him on this board from the team. I said, welcome home. Were glad youre here. Reporter that first night, nurse Crystal Johnson didnt leave kents bedside. Each time that he got out f bed to go to the bathroom, he was getting weaker and weaker. He had trouble breathing. His heart rate was high. He could barely stand. Reporter he had severe diarrhea. Severe, yes. Reporter in the early days, doctors slept just outside the unit, monitoring their patient around the clock. Because of the diarrhea, kent was losing electrolytes, essential body chemicals, at a terrifying rate. Doctors Colleen Kraft and annesh mehta fought to restore kents health. I hear you got to replace the electrolytes, and im thinking of gatorade and things like that, i mean, you know. Youre laughing. Is it but its reporter is it that simple . Or is it similar . But its at an intensive care unit level of replacing it. So, drinking gatorade certainly could help, but there are also i mean, you need to replace it in a very monitored and aggressive way, which i think is more than gatorade. We gave the electrolytes through the vein to get those levels. Reporter so he was on intravenous the whole time. And youre administering drugs. Lets make sure we understand this too, because ive read it time and time again. There is no cure for ebola. So, what a talented team like this one does is you try to care for the body the best you can so that the body can start to fight the virus on its own. Yes. Correct. Thats exactly right. What the supportive measures are there for is to support, in specific, the immune system and help the rest of the body thats been damaged by the virus recover. And then, the immune system can kick in and clear the virus on its own. Reporter three days after kent arrived, Nancy Writebol joined him at the Isolation Unit. Kent watched his dear friend through the window. They had to wheel her into her isolation room, which was directly across from mine. Reporter did she see you at that moment . No. I dont think nancy was really aware of anything at that moment. And it broke my heart as i tried to wave to her and see her face and could just see that she was all bundled up, and they were trying to get her in her room as quickly as they could. She confessed to me that she thought she was just being brought back here to die, and that we were just being nice to her and making her comfortable until she was going to die. And i said, you know, not if i can help it. Reporter but her survival, and kents, were anything but certain. What was the level of virus in their blood when they arrived here . Scale of one to ten in laymans terms. So, one to ten, this would be probably a ten. Reporter Nancy Writebol . And dr. Brantly. Reporter both of them were a scale one to ten. They were a ten in terms of virus in their system . Yeah, a lotta virus. Reporter with two dangerously ill patients, the team set up this special lab, steps from the patients beds, to handle their blood work. But it wasnt all drips and draws. Kent and nancy also needed to recover emotionally. I would imagine some of you were in the room during those moments where their family members came to the window. Yes. Reporter and from what ive heard from both dr. Brantly and Nancy Writebol, there were some very emotional moments between those. Was it hard to watch those . It was very hard. Nancy, her husband came, he and she thought that they would never see each other again. And when they saw each other, i mean, the tears were rolling. Reporter but it was too soon for hugs. The patients were still toxic. There are these body fluids that they are presenting, can you flush that down the toilet knowing it is ripe with ebola virus . What do you do . So, we cant flush it straight down the toilet because our Sewage Treatment plant would not be very happy with us. So, what we, in fact, do is we put it in a sterilizing solution and let it sit for five to ten minutes. And then, we can safely flush it down the toilet. Reporter every blood draw was a risk. And no one knew that better than the doctor they were treating. I was in his room drawing lab work and got a blood splash on my tyvex. Now we prepared for this, i knew what to do. I was never in any danger because i was well protected. So i changed my gloves cleaned my suit. That part was not a problem. But dr. Brantly looked at me and said, i really hope you dont get ebola. But if you do, ill take care of you. Reporter days of hyper vigilance. Tremendous stress. But finally was there a moment, was there a day, where you all looked at each other and were able to communicate to these patients, youre going to live . Reporter coming up a miracle moment. The number one thing on my list was to walk out of that room and give my wife a my son is going to wash the family prius. He insisted on using the rain to save water. Fourteen years ago, i insisted on buying our first prius. Because like toyota, we both know theres a way to do things, and a way to do things even better. The prius. Toyota, lets go places. Kitchen in a different way. R like i did, with knorr pasta sides. Just add some juicy shrimp, tomatoes and spinach and youve turned sides into a whole new dish. Knorr pasta sides, see a different side. Cozy or cool . Exactly the way you want it. Until boom, its bedtime your mattress is a battleground of thwarted desire. Enter the sleep number bed. Right now, all beds are on sale. Hes the softy. His sleep number setting is 35. Youre the rock, at 60. And snoring . Sleep numbers even got an adjustment for that. You can only find sleep number at a sleep number store. Head in for the final days of the biggest sale of the year. All beds on sale, with mattresses starting at 599. 99. Ends sunday. Know better sleep with sleep number. Fresh steps powerful formula eliminates dirty litter box odors for 10 days. Thats even something that cats find amazing. Fresh step eliminates dirty litter box odors for 10 days, guaranteed or your money back. I hear its better to do most of your planting in the fall. What are you, a plant whisperer . Maybe. [ male announcer ] now get 10 off all stagreen products at lowes. Reporter its possible she was the first to sense it. Amber brantly could only see her husband through this tiny window but still, somehow she knew kent was going to live. I could see his eyes had cleared. And he had the look that he was going to make it. He was going to get better. Reporter nurse Crystal Johnson noticed a change too in both her patients. For me it was when they asked for a shower. That was it. Reporter even though kent and nancy felt better, doctors confined them to their rooms. They were still contagious until their blood samples tested free of the ebola virus. Recovery became a waiting game. As i improved and was able to get out of bed and walk around and it just became my little home. Reporter walk around, but just in that room . I measured it one day. I think it was about 12 by 14. Reporter some of the nurses, still in their protective suits, played nerf basketball with kent to help him pass the time. He played the nurses. Reporter he told me he beat you all but two times. Oh, no, no. Youre playing h. O. R. S. E. Against a guy who is suffering from the ebola you should win. Reporter yeah. Thats right. Thats right. Reporter both kent and nancy were excited to start eating again. What were the foods . What were their cravings . Pizza. Pizza . Doc nancy wanted pizza. Dr. Brantlys first request was for a chickfila sandwich, which he immediately regretted. Reporter days passed. Kent and nancy growing stronger. But their release hinged on those frequent blood tests. And then it happened. 17 days after he arrived in atlanta, a goodbye. Kent watched his friend nancy get discharged. The medical Team Including dr. Jay varkey cheered. When she came out of the room, it was like seeing a new person. It wasnt the person that had been brought in on a stretcher. It was the person that had been seen on photos all around the world. Reporter kent had to stay. Waiting on the second of two blood tests. What was the feeling like when that second test came back okay . I was elated. I was so happy. All of a sudden, there were a lot of things to do. But the number one thing on my list was to walk out of that room and give my wife a hug. Reporter amber came running from the hospital cafeteria when she got the news. But the nurses had one last safety check for kent. We basically scrubbed a path with bleach. Between his shower and coming out so that he had a completely clean path to walk through so he could see his wife and touch her for the first time. And we decontaminated his wedding band and gave it to her so she could give it back to him. And i think we were all just so overwhelmed with emotion when they got to see each other for the first time. What a bunch of softies. Reporter kent was finally discharged. He spoke at a press conference a few hours later. Today is a miraculous day. Im thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family. Reporter at that press conference, at the end when you had given your statement and the doctors had spoken, you were seen hugging some of them. Were you sending a message about fear and ebola . Or was it just gratitude . Im glad that message about fear and ebola went out. But that was not a scripted event. That was gratitude from me to my caregivers. Reporter but you know that moment got a lot of attention because look, ill be honest with you, when i told friends of mine that i was going to come here to interview you, you know what the number one question was . Are you going to shake his hand . Are you worried about a stigma traveling with you . I havent been until now. Reporter i shook your hand, ill do it again. But are you worried that people, when they hear your name they might say, wait a minute. This is the guy who had ebola. You know, im not worried about that. It may happen. Ive been recognized a few times out in public. But the only people who come and speak to me are the ones who grab my arm and say, i am so glad to meet you. We have been praying for you. Reporter kent is recuperating, his wife and two small children by his side. But he says its hard not to think about liberia, the patients he cared for and saw die, whether he should go back to continue his mission. Have you given thought to that yet . Right now, i still have a lot of recovering to do. But im trying do everything i can right now to continue helping the people in liberia. Talking with you is an opportunity to hopefully help the people of liberia. And will we go back . I dont know the answer to that. We really dont know. Reporter would you be okay with it . If kent was. I told him long ago, ill go anywhere youre going. Were going together. Reporter the Ebola Outbreak in west africa is now one of the largest in history. The World Health Organization estimates 20,000 people could be infected before its over. Just this week a third american missionary, dr. Rick sacra, was diagnosed. He arrived today in omaha for treatment. I wish this ebola epidemic would end. I wish that everyone who is sick could get the level of care that i received. Reporter questions remain about that experimental drug kent and nancy were given in liberia. Dr. Bruise rib dsh bruce ribner said its too early to know whether it could be a magic bullet. I would caution everybody to yes, our two patients have survived. But there are two other patients who received this product who did not survive. If ebola should surface in the united states, the centers for Disease Control says it has systems in place to contain it. Reporter youve said to me in no uncertain terms, that while its probably a combination of factors, that god saved your life. And when you said that before, there were some reaction to that. Some people said, hes saying his faith in god saved him. But is that in some ways saying that all those people in liberia who died because of this virus didnt have the same faith in god . That he didnt spare them . Thats a really difficult issue. I dont think theres anything special about me that made god save my life. And i dont think god saving the life of one person and another person dying means that theres something more important about that one person than the other. Reporter or stronger about their faith . I survived. And i want to give credit to god for bringing me through that. Like you said, it was a combination of factors that treated my medical condition. It was the team in liberia that was taking care of me. There was the experimental drug. There were the doctors and nurses at emory, and that technology and resources of Emory University hospital and the cdc. When i see all of those things coming together, when i see how every piece of the puzzle came together to provide me with the care that i received, i see the hand of god at work and i have to give him glory. 3 f2 trabajando y tengo que darle su im matt lauer for all of us at hmm. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Everybody knows that parker. Well. Did you know auctioneers make bad Grocery Store clerks . Thatll be 23. 50. Now. 75, 23. 75, hold em. Hey now do i hear 23. 75 . 24 hey 24 dollar, 24 and a quarter, quarter, now half, 24 and a half and. 75 25 now a quarter, hey 26 and a quarter, do you wanna pay now, you wanna do it, 25 and a quarter sold to the man in the khaki jacket geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Right now at 11 00, dangerous storms are headed our way. Were tracking the radar tonight. This is the damage left behind by the same weather system in chicago tonight. Roofs ripped apart, downed trees and power knocked out to 100,000 customers there. The nbc 10 First Alert Weather Team is already announcing tomorrow is a first alert weather day in our area. Meteorologist Sheena Parveen is looking ahead to a stormy saturday for us. Yeah, jim, thats right. Part of your saturday for part of the area will be on the stormy side. This is mainly going to be late saturday so were issuing a first alert out for the storms that are off to our west now, but tomorrow, theyll be here. Storms mainly later in the day. Some of them strong and the best an