Pauline Cafferkey, the Scottish nurse who was in critical condition with Ebola last month, has been discharged from the Royal Free Hospital in London after making a full recovery.
Speaking to the BBC in an interview aired on Saturday, 39-year-old Cafferkey said she felt like "giving up" after her conditioned worsened last month, but is now "very happy to be alive."
"I still don't feel 100%, I feel quite weak, but I'm looking forward to going home," she said, adding that she was excited to return to a "normal life."
Cafferkey contracted Ebola after traveling to Sierra Leone to volunteer at a treatment facility for Save the Children in November. She was diagnosed with Ebola on Dec. 29 after returning to Glasgow. She says she has no current plans to return to West Africa, adding, "I am definitely going to give aid work a break for a while."
Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey penned a diary for @scotonsunday about fighting Ebola http://t.co/GKooaeEfC0
Cafferkey was given an experimental drug treatment, as well as a blood plasma from an Ebola survivor.
Cafferkey's colleagues at the Blantyre Health Centre in South Lanarkshire, where the recovered Ebola patient is a nurse, were "overjoyed" when they heard the news. U.K. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC he was "delighted" that Cafferkey had made a full recovery, complimenting her "selflessness and courage."
"She represents the very best of NHS [National Health Service] values," he added.
