US Doctor Cured of Ebola Continues His Work in Liberia

This time last year, Dr Rick Sacra was given a second chance at life.

On September 25 2014, the 52-year-old Massachusetts physician had just been discharged from an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital after being treated and cured of Ebola.

Sacra had contracted the deadly virus while delivering babies in a Christian mission hospital in Liberia. Rushed back to the US, he spent three weeks suffering through fevers, vomiting, diarrhea and aches.

Sacra says his faith gave him peace through the uncertainty.

"Of course I knew that I might die," he told The Associated Press this week, reflecting on the ordeal. 

"It made me very aware of how grateful I am for every day I'm given."

Other than an eye problem that nagged him until late January, Sacra says he's now fully recovered.

"I'm doing fine, 100%," he says before deftly pivoting to acknowledge that many West African Ebola survivors still deal with serious health complications, the anguish of losing loved ones, and stigmatisation and fear upon returning to their battered communities.