mr. ballard said, but before doing so, dr. brantly has requested to make a brief statement. and as mr. ballard said, dr. brantly will not be taking any questions following his statement. so i ask that you respect his wishes and save your questions for me and for the other members of our healthcare team. thank you. >> today i'm thrilled to be alive, to be well, and to be reunited with my family. as a mel missionary, i never imagined myself in this position. when my family and i moved to liberia last october to begin a two-year term working with samaritan's purse, ebola was not on the radar. we moved to liberia because god called us to serve the people of liberia. in march, when we got word that ebola was in guinea and had spread to liberia, we began preparing for the worst. we did not receive our first ebola patient until june. but when she arrived, we were ready. during the course of june and july, the number of ebola patients increased steadily and our amazing crew at the ella hospital took care of each patient with care and precaution, and we also took every precaution to protect ours