Tomorrow Dr. Santiago Arruffat and I will leave for another trip to JFK Hospital in Liberia. It has been just over a year since we were last there; our planned trips in September and March were cancelled because of the scourge of Ebola. The threat from that virus has diminished significantly, and with luck, on Saturday May 9, Liberia will celebrate 42 days with no new cases of Ebola; that length of time is the WHO standard for declaring the epidemic over. We all recognize that while there may be no clinical cases of Ebola virus disease, the virus itself has not been eradicated, and the threat of another epidemic will always be present. The people of Liberia must be vigilant, and careful, and prepared to swing into action against the virus if necessary; this is the new reality.
Tomorrow also marks one year since I discovered an enlarged lymph node under my arm, and soon thereafter began chemotherapy for lymphoma. There were many times during that process when I doubted that I would ever be able to return to Liberia. Fortunately, due to the great care I received, the support and love shown to me by family and friends, the luck of the Irish, and a whole variety of imponderables relating to everything from tumor behavior to Divine Providence, I am now well. All signs point to a complete knockout of the lymphoma and excellent odds that it will not come back. After that interruption, I feel good; I am excited to return to my "home" in Liberia and to see my friends once again. Sadly, I know that some of those friends succumbed to Ebola : I will miss greeting Dr. Brisbane and Dr. Borbor, and learning from them about the progress being made in rebuilding JFK. I fear learning about others who succumbed during the epidemic, and I know there were many; on the other hand, I look forward to celebrating with those who survived.
This promises to be a memorable trip !
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