Nancy Writebol (right) with her husband, David (left).
David Writebol, husband of Nancy Writebol, completed a 21-day period of medical monitoring on Sunday, allowing him to rejoin his wife at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
"We both placed our hands on opposite sides of the glass, moved with tears to look at each other again," David Writebol explained, describing his reunion with his wife. "She is continuing to slowly gain strength, eager for the day when the barriers separating us are set aside, and we can simply hold each other. We prayed together over the intercom, praising our great and mighty God for his goodness to us."
Nancy Writebol had contracted the Ebola virus in July, along with Kent Brantly, while doing mission work in Liberia. Both David and Nancy Writebol had been in Liberia as missionaries through SIM, a Christian mission organization serving internationally with medicine, education, and community development, among others. After having received the experimental ZMapp drug, Writebol had been showing slow signs of restoration in her health.
Jeremy Writebol, the couple's son, said that the medical care that Writebol has been receiving at Emory is likely one of the main reasons for her steps toward recovery.
"The medical staff there has been incredible. They've been compassionate, professional, and that's been the key, I think, in helping mom recover," he said.
Despite her slow recovery, David Writebol explained on Wednesday that doctors have still been unable to pinpoint the cause by which Nancy Writebol contracted the virus. The nature of the virus, however, is that it is most contagious when the Ebola patient is at its peak of illness, and it can only be spread through bodily fluids.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been the worst outbreak thus far in history, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO estimated that over 1,000 lives have already been taken by the virus outbreak, and said that even this number is a "vast underestimation," according to a recent report from the Examiner.
