Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey is returning to Sierra Leone for the first time since contracting the killer virus there. She said she hopes the fundraising trip in May will help to bring “closure” after a “terrible couple of years”.
Ms Cafferkey contracted Ebola in 2014 and has suffered a series of further health scares due to complications linked to the disease.At one stage she was close to death.

The 41-year-old also faced disciplinary proceedings over events surrounding her return to the UK for which she was later cleared.

Speaking to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme, she said going back to Sierra Leone will be “psychologically important”.

She said: “It’s where things kind of started for me and I’ve had a terrible couple of years since then.

“So it will be good to go back just for things to come full circle for me and a little bit of closure.

“Most people have been supportive if they know that I’m going back. I’ve had a few people, like family friends, who say ‘just be careful when you get back there’.”

Despite her experience Ms Cafferkey, who lives in Glasgow, said she was “excited” to go back and is “not going there with any trepidation”.

The nurse will take part in a 10km run during the fundraising trip for Street Child, a UK charity which helped youngsters affected by the epidemic.