Called for Life: How Loving Our Neighbor Led Us into the Heart of the Ebola Epidemic

“When I knelt next to Teresa on that rainy June night outside our hospital, I told myself that everything was about to change. I had no idea the extent of that truth. But one thing has not changed: our desire to live faithful to God’s calling.”
—Dr. Kent Brantly, in Called for Life

Just months after Dr. Kent Brantly arrived in Liberia with his wife, Amber, and their two children, the Ebola virus erupted in West Africa. Kent and his colleagues began to fight one of the most horrifying, incurable diseases on earth, only to see patient after patient die. Then, after six weeks of intense battle to help others survive, Kent woke up one July morning with a fever. Three days later his diagnosis was confirmed: Ebola.

Kent knew his life was at stake. He also knew Amber, family members, and friends were praying desperately. What he didn’t know was that his case would make international headlines as he was evacuated to Atlanta, becoming the first person with Ebola ever treated in the United States. He didn’t know he would be the center of a media firestorm of debate, questions, and fears. And he didn’t know that his faith would inspire people around the world to trust in a faithful God.


“Kent, bud. We got your test result. And I’m really sorry to tell you that it is positive for Ebola.”
--From the Prologue, Called for Life


Dr. Kent and Amber Brantly moved with their children to war-torn Liberia in the fall of 2013 to provide medical care for people in great need—to help replace hopelessness with hope. When, less than a year later, Kent contracted the deadly Ebola virus, hope became what he and Amber needed too.

When Kent received the diagnosis, he was already alone and in quarantine in the Brantly home in Liberia. Amber and the children had left just days earlier on a trip to the United States. Kent’s personal battle against the horrific Ebola began, and as thousands of people worldwide prayed for his life, a miraculous series of events unfolded.

Called for Life tells the riveting inside story of Kent and Amber’s call to serve their neighbors, as well as Kent’s fight for life with Ebola and Amber’s’ struggle to support him from half-a-world away. Most significantly,Called for Life reminds us of the risk, the honor, and the joy to be known when God and others are served without reservation.