Members of Emory’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU) recently attended the first Atlanta screening of “Facing Darkness – A True Story of Faith: Saving Dr. Brantly from Ebola in Africa.”

The documentary tells the story of how Samaritan’s Purse dedicated its people and its resources to care for West Africans as the Ebola pandemic swept through their land.

Brantly, an American physician with Samaritan's Purse caring for Ebola victims in a Liberian hospital, was diagnosed with Ebola virus disease in 2014, and was evacuated out of West Africa and to Emory University Hospital for care, becoming the first person with Ebola virus disease treated in the United States. 

His colleague, Nancy Writebol, working at the same hospital in Liberia, would soon join Brantly at Emory with the same diagnosis. Emory would go on to treat a total of four patients with Ebola.

Both Brantly and Writebol attended the March 30 documentary showing, as did their Emory care team members — physicians Bruce Ribner, Colleen Kraft and G. Marshall Lyon, along with Sharon Vanairsdale, MS, APRN, program director of the SCDU. The Emory team had the opportunity to visit with their former patients after the movie.

"Facing Darkness" was shown at 725 theaters in 600 cities nationwide on March 30. There was also an encore showing April 10 at theaters around the country. The Samaritan’s Purse film is expected to be on DVD and Blue-Ray soon. For more information and to watch the trailer, visit the "Facing Darkness" website.