Ebola survivor Kent Brantly in 'tearful prayer' for close friend who was recently diagnosed

The U.S. doctor who survived Ebola turned to his faith after learning that his dear friend and colleague was also infected with the horrific virus.


Kent Brantly, 33, was "very close" to the as-of-yet unidentified Serving In Mission doctor who contracted Ebola at the same hospital in Liberia.

"I was notified about that this morning and spent a good long while in tearful prayer," he told NBC Nightly News.

The deeply religious doctor has been appreciating every minute he gets to spend with his wife Amber and their two children in Ashville, N.C. He feared he would never get the chance to see them again after waking up with symptoms of the deadly disease on July 23.

"I woke up that morning, and really I just felt a little off. Felt a little warm, a little under the weather. And I took my temperature and it was 100.0, I think," he said.

APAn ambulance arrives takes Brantly to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Aug. 2.

Three days before, Amber Brantley and their children had returned to the U.S. to attend a wedding.
"I was so thankful that Amber and the kids were not there," he said. "That would have been an overwhelming mental burden, if I had woken up sick next to my wife with one of my children snuggled next to me."
Amber Brantley is not sure she can describe what it felt like to hear over the phone that her husband was just diagnosed with Ebola — she did not think their story would have a happy ending.
"I had seen him treat these people who had already been diagnosed," she said. "And I knew how it ends. I knew how everyone had ended up so far. So I had the disadvantage of having the knowledge of the course of the disease. I was scared."

TAMI CHAPPELL/REUTERSThe Brantlys stands together during a press conference at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta
 certain points, not even Brantley's doctors thought he would pull through.
"I don't think they ever said, 'Kent, I think you're about to die.' But I felt like I was about to die," he said.
On Aug 21, Brantley was discharged from Emory Hospital in Atlanta where he received an experimental treatment called ZMapp.
He hopes his story continues to draw attention to the plight of the people in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria who are still battling the disease.
NBC Nightly News' full interview with Brantly will air Friday night at 10 p.m.