Dr. Kent Brantly – watercress words by Dr Aletha

When I published this blog post about the passing of Billy Graham this year, I remembered an interesting medical connection.

Billy Graham once preached in China, a country well known to his wife because she grew up there. Ruth Bell lived there with her parents who were missionaries. And not just any missionaries.

Her father, L. Nelson Bell was a surgeon at a mission hospital in Tsingkiang, China where for 25 years he operated on thousands of patients.

When the Bells were forced to return to America by the outbreak of World War II he not only resumed a busy medical practice but became editor of two influential Christian magazines and an active leader in his denomination.

In his book The Journey, Graham wrote about his father-in-law,

After Ruth and I were married he became one of my closest friends and advisers, someone whose wise counsel I always respected . I never met anyone who was more disciplined or more determined to make every minute count.

The story doesn’t end there. In 1977 two surgeons wanted to volunteer to work in mission hospitals during their vacation. Their efforts developed into World Medical Mission, a branch of the humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse.

Today, hundreds of volunteer Christian healthcare professionals serve in overseas mission hospitals and clinics. The organization also provides critically needed medical equipment and supplies, along with biomedical technicians to install, repair, and maintain the equipment at these facilities.

Leading Samaritan’s Purse as President and CEO- Dr. Bell’s grandson, Franklin Graham, son of Ruth and Billy.

And in the Bolivian Amazon basin, the Ruth Bell riverboat delivers medical and dental care to remote communities, just like her father did in China many years ago.

The Ruth Bell riverboat, photo from a recent newsletter of World Medical Mission

Dr. Bell’s story is told in A Foreign Devil in China

John 3:16, NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

The Reverend Billy Graham- America’s Preacher

John 3:16 is reported to be Billy Graham’s favorite Bible verse. He included it in every sermon he preached because it contains everything he wanted people to know about God.

Even though he is called America’s Preacher, Billy Graham traveled and preached all over the world, including China, the Soviet Union, Europe, Australia, Africa, and North Korea.

On February 21, 2018, the Reverend Billy Graham died at 99 years of age. He is well known as a preacher, speaker, and evangelist, but he also wrote books. Here are links to some of them.

My home is in heaven. I'm just traveling through this world. Billy Graham — graphic with quote from the late Reverend Billy Graham from Lightstock.com, an affiliate link.

exploring the HEART of health and hope

Read about a Samaritan’s Purse doctor who became a patient himself

Surviving Ebola, “Called for Life”- Dr. Kent Brantly

Keep reading

by Aletha Cress Oglesby, M.D. March 21, 2016April 16, 2020

The Good Samaritans Fighting Ebola

“Not the glittering weapon fights the fight, says the proverb, but rather the hero’s heart.Maybe this is true in any battle; it is surely true of a war that is waged with bleach and a prayer.”
Nancy Gibbs, Time magazine, 2014

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Dr. Kent Brantly, missionary physician to Liberia

Dr. Kent Brantly awoke feeling ill- muscle aches, fever, sore throat, headache and nausea. As his condition progressively worsened to include difficulty breathing, he learned the cause of his illness- the Ebola virus. Having spent the past few weeks caring for patients caught up in the Ebola epidemic that swept Liberia in the spring of 2014, Dr. Brantly had contracted the disease himself, and would likely die, as almost all victims do.

Dr. Brantly, a graduate of Indiana University’s School of Medicine, had volunteered to work at ELWA Hospital in Liberia which was receiving aid from Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization. This hospital served as Monrovia’s Ebola treatment center and Dr. Brantly headed the unit.

As his condition deteriorated, his physicians decided his only hope for recovery was use of an experimental drug, ZMapp, previously untested on humans. Since otherwise he was likely to die, he received the drug by infusion into a vein. By the next morning he felt well enough to arise from bed and shower. Unknown to him, thousands of people around the world had been praying for him.

During this time his colleague, nurse Nancy Writebol, was battling her own Ebola infection. She also was treated with ZMapp.

Samaritan’s Purse arranged for both of them to be evacuated to the United States. There, they could continue receiving supportive medical care, as well as allow infectious disease specialists to learn from their conditions. It also would relieve the workload on the doctors who continued to care for Ebola patients at ELWA.

Dr. Brantly and his wife Amber, who had just left Liberia to return home for a visit, wrote a book about their experience,Called for Life.