The podcast that killed a friendship

• Adam Carolla has the most popular podcast ever, according to Guinness World Records


• Trial over podcast begins this week; old friend claims partnership and is suing Carolla


• Donny Misraje says he's due 30% of podcasting company's profits


• Carolla's attorney, Mark Geragos, calls the case "nonsense"

(CNN) -- It's a sad, familiar story in Hollywood: When somebody makes it big, somebody else gets left behind. Feelings get hurt. Positions harden.

And that's when the lawyers are unleashed.

A jury has been chosen in Los Angeles to hear a case involving two old friends and a podcast. Lawyers will give opening statements Wednesday. The friends, once inseparable, no longer speak. And the podcast isn't just any podcast. It is, according to the Guinness World Records, the most downloaded podcast ever, and it's hosted by Adam Carolla.

Carolla's name will be familiar to anybody who spent time on L.A.'s perpetually jammed freeways during the late '90s. Before there was satellite radio, Internet streaming and smartphones, radio station KROQ, pronounced "K-Rock," provided entertainment to a captive audience of millions of commuters with its stable of up-and-coming talent.

2012: Carolla: Taco Bell ruined me

"Jimmy the Sports Guy" was none other than Jimmy Kimmel. Dr. Drew Pinsky, who now has a nightly show on CNN sister network HLN, hosted the sex advice show "Loveline," which was picked up by MTV and still airs over the Westwood One radio network.

Carolla, a listener who often called in, eventually played a wisecracking sidekick to both of them.

Old friends Adam Carolla, left, and Donny Misraje worked on what became the most downloaded podcast ever.

Now 50, he turned being a guy into an art form. Think Howard Stern without the leering, porn stars and strippers. Today Carolla is known for his podcast rants, live appearances and best-selling books, including his latest, "President Me: The America That's in My Head."

"The Adam Carolla Show" gives him the exposure to sell his books and a beverage he calls "Mangria" as well as promote live shows and regular guest spots with a couple of cable TV Bills, Maher and O'Reilly.

He probably won't be promoting this on his podcast, but Carolla is scheduled to appear live all week, and possibly next week, at the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. It's not by choice. He is being sued by Donny Misraje, a boyhood friend who insists he was the brains behind the most popular podcast in the world. Carolla became the record holder, surpassing British funnyman Ricky Gervais by receiving nearly 60 million unique downloads between March 2009 and March 2011.

View my Flipboard Magazine.

Misraje claims he pushed his friend into podcasting when CBS canceled Carolla's morning radio show in February 2009. The podcast was an instant hit. Within a month, he says, Carolla agreed to make him a partner and promised him a 30% stake in his company, Ace Broadcasting Network. But Misraje says he wound up with nothing.

Fast Company: How Adam Carolla became a podcast superstar

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime friendship ripped apart by money, greed and outside influences," says Misraje's attorney, Greg Doll. "For Donny Misraje, Adam's word was his bond. It was all he needed to jump headfirst into this enterprise. Is our case a cautionary tale? Sure. Is there a tragic element to it? Absolutely."

Podcast was immediately popular

Misraje never got anything in writing. Still, he says in his lawsuit, he quit his $231,000-a-year television production job and came on board knowing he wasn't going to get paid for a year or more. Because Carolla was pinned down by a noncompete clause in his CBS contract, the new company couldn't solicit advertisers during its first year.

Carolla was still getting paid under his CBS contract, but there was no way to create revenue to pay Misraje until the contract -- and its noncompete clause -- expired on December 31, 2009.

Misraje says he took out a second mortgage to make ends meet. He convinced his wife, a Grammy winner and top creative director, and his cousin, an Internet technical wizard, to join as well. They also are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Misraje says he was willing to stake his future on his presumed partnership with Carolla.

Carolla, the lawsuit states, assured them everyone was "all in this for the long haul," that they would "all get rich," and would be "sending their kids to an expensive college."

"We're taking this gamble together and it will pay off tenfold in the end," Carolla assured them, according to the lawsuit.

It didn't turn out that way. Despite the huge success of the podcast, Misraje's 30% payday never came. He contends Carolla cut him, his wife and cousin loose as soon as the cash started rolling in. He even changed the name of the company, Ace Broadcasting Network, to Carolla Digital.

According to the lawsuit, Carolla sent Misraje a scathing email firing his old friend. It is one of the major points in dispute. Can one partner fire another? To answer that question, the jury must decide: Was Misraje a partner, as he insists? Or was he just an employee?

Misraje's lawsuit cites multiple examples in which Carolla credits Misraje for the podcast.

"I want to thank my buddy Donny for setting this experiment up," he says in the first podcast, according to the lawsuit. Later, he is quoted as saying, "I'd never really heard of podcasting. Donny forced it upon me."

Partnership disputed

Carolla's attorney, Mark Geragos, had plenty to say about the case but did not make Carolla available for comment on the eve of trial. Geragos, who's a legal analyst for CNN, says that Misraje is seeking a big payday by taking advantage of an old friend. The suit, which alleges breach of contract, seeks a dissolution of the partnership, an accounting, and unspecified monetary damages.

It wasn't just Misraje's brainchild, Geragos said. Others also were responsible for convincing Carolla that podcasting and streaming on the Internet were the wave of the future, he added. The lawyer dismissed Misraje as "just a hanger-on, trying to cash in on an old friend." And yes, Hollywood is full of such people. "Donny is a rather pathetic character," Geragos added, describing his lawsuit as "nonsense."

"There was no partnership," Geragos insisted. "He wants a piece of Adam into perpetuity. But my understanding is, we've outlawed slavery in this country."

In a half-hour phone conversation with CNN, Misraje, now a producer for "The Queen Latifah Show," talked about the old days and a friendship that he valued and lost.

"We're definitely not friends. It's, it's wrenching," he said. "We were like brothers for 30 years. The relationship was extremely close and tight, and it came to an abrupt end."

Carolla also has told his personal story widely -- on his podcasts, in his books and in countless interviews. He often has said he didn't get a lot of attention as a kid and that sports, and his friends, grounded him.

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Remembering Ace and The Weez

When Misraje spoke with CNN last week, he provided a few details about their time together but avoided discussing the specifics of the falling out that led to the lawsuit. What follows is his version of their early years, along with details gleaned from the public record, reviews of Carolla's best-selling books and his many media interviews.

He and Carolla were a year apart at North Hollywood High School. They ran in different circles: "Ace" Carolla hung with the jocks, while "The Weez" Misraje was more of a nerd.

Even back then Ace liked the limelight, Misraje recalled. He'd squawk into a bullhorn in the cafeteria, trying to convince people to buy tickets to football games. Few of them ever did.

Carolla, top, and Misraje were friends for 30 years before a business dispute tore them apart.

Ace and The Weez, as they were known then, really found each other after high school. While their friends headed off to college, they stayed behind in the San Fernando Valley. Carolla's parents kicked him out of their garage apartment, and he and The Weez found an apartment together. For about three years, they were just a couple of slackers, sharing an old futon.

Ace, the funny one, dug ditches for $15 an hour, and The Weez tended bar and fooled around with video equipment. They didn't seem to have a clue, much less a plan.

The Weez's family served as a safety net, keeping them from going totally feral. They'd go over for the occasional Sunday cookout, do laundry, raid the refrigerator. It was like a second home for Ace, except at this house people noticed him, seemed glad to see him.

They'd grown up fame-adjacent in the Valley, and adjacent they seemed destined to stay.

"We were knuckleheads," recalled Misraje. "I think we were both pretty scared."

But that didn't mean they didn't have style. They pooled their extremely limited resources and bought a '64 Cadillac limo. The Weez, who was handy, fixed it up.

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Before long Ace, The Weez and their friends were rolling up at clubs in a custom party cruiser. It was an early, low-budget version of that bro-ride in the opening credits of the hit HBO series "Entourage," a tribute to the red-blooded, 20-something male's idea of livin' the dream.

Carolla left the Valley for a while, chasing his dream of finding a career in comedy. He ran with a crowd of stand-up comedians, and he was spending time with the Groundlings, the comedy improv group that launched the careers of performers such as Phil Hartman and Lisa Kudrow.

Carolla started hanging around a public-access cable station in Echo Park, what Angelenos call "over the hill" from the Valley.

But Ace and The Weez became neighbors again in Toluca Lake when Carolla moved across the street after his girlfriend's apartment was red-tagged as unsafe after the Northridge quake. By then The Weez was working for advertising agencies, editing commercials. Ace was no longer digging ditches; he'd moved up to construction work, hanging drywall and pounding nails.

Was he funny enough to turn pro? He started calling in to the "Kevin & Bean" morning show at KROQ. Everybody in L.A., it seemed, listened to that show, repeated the bits, turned the best lines into cultural inside jokes.

When the show put out the call for someone to train Jimmy the Sports Guy -- Kimmel -- for a boxing match dubbed "The Bleeda in Reseda," Carolla, a fight fan who worked out constantly, knew the gig was made for him. He walked over to the KROQ office and dropped his name in the basket at the front desk. It probably didn't hurt that the name he dropped was Adam Lakers Carolla.

His parents hadn't given him a middle name, so when it came time to get a driver's license, he chose his favorite sports team: the Lakers. It stuck; he uses the name to this day.

Rise of a radio star

Carolla got the gig training Kimmel and they clicked. Big time. Kimmel advised him that to get more airtime on the show, he should come up with a regular bit, and that is how Mr. Birchum came to be.

Mr. Birchum was a misogynistic, xenophobic Vietnam vet with PTSD who taught shop at a local high school. He called in to KROQ to teach lessons because he assumed his students were listening. Carolla did the shtick without pay for a year. It was hilarious, and it caught on. Mr. Birchum launched Carolla's career.

The bit caught Pinsky's attention, and he and Carolla would spend 11 years together, on the radio and later on the MTV version of "Loveline." With Kimmel he did "The Man Show" and "Crank Yankers" on cable and by 2009 had his own morning show on KLSX, the CBS radio station in Los Angeles.

The Weez was movin' on up, too. He jumped into digital media early, mastering Avid, the software program that made videotape obsolete. He started editing, and then producing for a laundry list of television shows, including "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," "Extra," "Celebrity Justice," "Big Brother," "The Showbiz Show With David Spade" and "Deal or No Deal."

Misraje says he was moving into directing and producing when he stepped up to help Carolla launch his podcasting career in February 2009. His reasons may not have been purely altruistic when he rallied to help his old friend. There was opportunity there, no doubt. But he contends that Carolla used him and then threw him away.

"There's the business and there's the money, and then there's the relationship." Misraje says. "That's just debilitating to me. I can't begin to tell you how bad I feel. That's the hard part, that the relationship is over."

He compares it to a bad breakup. Or a death in the family.

"You know how you get sick of somebody? It wasn't like that. We have been close, tight, for more than 30 years. He's like a member of my family. Imagine having a fight with a brother or a sister. It's a mind-blower."

What puzzles him the most, Misraje says, is that Carolla didn't seem to understand that backing out of the partnership deal would end their 30-year friendship.

"I think he still wanted to have the relationship," Misraje says. But as far as he's concerned, "the friendship is over."

Two old friends who once shared a futon in a crummy apartment when nobody expected either of them to amount to much will meet face to face in court this week. It will be awkward. They haven't had much to say to each other in the two-plus years since Carolla fired Misraje in a vitriolic email.

It will be up to a jury to decide whether Carolla had a right to do that, or whether it should cost him more than it already has.

See more comedy content at CNN Comedy.

Fight brewing over donated livers

Transplant doctors in the Midwest and South are upset about some possible changes in the organ donation system.

• There is a shortage of liver transplant donors in the United States


• Only 6,000 of nearly 16,000 people on waiting list get a liver transplant each year


• There are big regional differences in how many will get a transplant

(CNN) -- Dr. Sean Kumer is actually happy when a call from work wakes him from a deep sleep.

A call means the transplant surgeon at The University of Kansas Hospital can save another life. He worries, though, about possible changes being discussed regarding the way donated organs are distributed; if they go into effect, he may not be able to save so many lives.

"I worry (the possible changes) will harm my patients," Kumer said.

On September 16, the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit that manages the nation's transplant system, will hold a public hearing to discuss ways to "increase equity" in how organs are assigned to patients across the country. Each organ has a different system for handling its waiting list, and the network has seen a particular problem with donated livers.

Currently, a donated liver is supposed to go first to the person who is most likely to die without a transplant, but the system also takes geographic factors into consideration. That means the sickest person in the country doesn't always get dibs. Instead, the system uses a "local, regional and national" algorithm.

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There are wide disparities in the number of organs available in the country's 11 regions. In the South and Midwest, donations are high. Donations on the coasts are low.

So if you live in California, an area that has one of the lowest liver donation rates, you would probably wait longer to qualify for a transplant than someone who lives in Tennessee, in a region where the donation rates are much higher. That's why Apple co-founder Steve Jobs flew to Tennessee to get his liver transplant, even though he lived thousands of miles away in California.

These are disparities the organ network considers "unacceptably high." (PDF)

The biggest problem is a serious shortage of donated livers. Although about 6,000 liver transplant operations happen each year, that's only a fraction of those who need them. There are 15,600 people on the waiting list right now.

An average of 1,500 people die each year while waiting for a liver transplant across all regions, whether there is a generous donor community or not. And the number of people needing liver transplants is expected to rise. With the nation's obesity epidemic, fatty liver disease has become a growing problem with more patients needing transplants.

"We lose someone every week who never got a shot at a lifesaving liver transplant because of where they live," said Dr. David Mulligan, chief of transplantation and immunology at Yale and chairman of the United Network for Organ Sharing committee considering the change. "That same person would have had a shot if they lived in Kansas or Georgia or Louisiana."

To address this disparity, Mulligan says, his committee is open to ideas. Right now, it is considering a variety of mathematical models. One would reduce the 11 U.S. transplant regions to four or eight. Centers on the West and East coasts could see a 40% to 50% increase in volume with this shift, according to some estimates.

These models worry doctors who live in the regions where the supply of donated organs is better. Doctors in Kansas benefit from a highly successful donor outreach program and don't want their region to be an "organ farm" for the parts of the country where not as many donate, Kumer says.

"What they are attempting to do is say, 'Hey, those guys have all the organs. Let's go over and poach those' instead of having their own grass-roots campaign to identify new donors," Kumer said.

Dr. Tim Schmitt, director of transplantation at The University of Kansas Hospital, thinks the organ network's committee is looking at the problem the wrong way. Instead of shifting regions, he believes, it should focus on signing up more organ donors.

"That's where we should devote all our energy, rather than just shuffle the organs around the country," Schmitt said. "I think everyone in UNOS and in the transplant community wants to save more lives; that is a no-brainer. But we feel that geographic disparity is more a reflection of other broader problems."

This week, Schmitt and doctors at dozens of transplant centers in the Midwest and the South sent a letter of protest to the organ network, urging the committee not to make any changes until all available data are considered.

If the network implements the "concept" proposal and broadens the geographic boundaries for sharing donor livers, it would "represent the most drastic change in liver allocation ever," the authors wrote, and "would significantly disadvantage many areas of the country currently able to serve their patient populations."

A congressional delegation from Georgia also sent a letter in April, asking the network to put a hold on the remapping process. Their letter argues that the changes could reduce the "number of liver transplants performed in Georgia by 25%" and "inevitably drive up costs, decrease survival rates, and waste precious resources in an already constrained sector of healthcare."

Transporting organs longer distances could cost health care centers $30 million more annually, according to some estimates. Mulligan argues that cost would be offset when doctors have to take care of fewer people with end-stage liver failure.

Mulligan says his committee will make sure it does not "hurt the regions that have been successful" with organ donation. He believes that ultimately, a new system will save hundreds of lives every year.

"We are totally aware that there are certain parts of the country that will see big shifts, and that will be scary to them, but we have to take off our hats that represent our individual centers and think about what is best for patients all across the country," Mulligan said.

Both sides of the debate agree though, that no matter how the system will change, it is only a temporary fix akin to "rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship," Mulligan said. "We are going to continue to have this problem if people don't donate."

To become an organ donor, register at OrganDonor.gov.

Waiting for a new face: Transplants give people back their lives

CNN Poll: McConnell holds edge in race

• Kentucky Senate race could determine balance of power in the Senate


• It could also decide whether Mitch McConnell will be Senate majority leader


• McConnell is running as an agent of change after 30 years in the Senate


• Opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes is a rising star in the Democratic Party

Washington (CNN) -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell holds a slim four-point edge over his Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in a new CNN/ORC International Poll of one of the most closely watched Senate races of 2014.

McConnell's 4-point advantage, 50%-46%, falls within the survey's 4-point sampling error, furthering emphasizing how close this Kentucky contest remains 62 days before Election Day. The outcome of this election may help decide control of the Senate, influence President Barack Obama's final two years in office and determine the political fate of Kentucky's longest-serving senator.

Data from the poll offers both hope and challenges for each candidate over the next two months, as outside groups and the individual candidates continue to pour millions of dollars into this race to try to influence Kentuckians on whom to support in November.

That sliver of persuadable voters might be as small as 19%, which is the number of people who said they "might change their mind." In contrast, 77% of those surveyed said they "made up their mind" about whom they will back in November.

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What might be a troubling data point for Grimes is the number of Democrats -- 16% -- who said they are supporting or leaning towards supporting McConnell.

"That 16% may not sound like much, but it's more than double the number of crossover votes that Grimes wins from Republicans," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "It's likely that there are some Democrats who think that their state is better off with a Kentuckian running the Senate rather than a Democrat who would rank at the very bottom in seniority."

And that is a main talking point for McConnell on the campaign trail, a senator who speaks about how he delivers for Kentuckians while maintaining conservative sensibilities. He also embraces his role as one of Obama's biggest critics, which in many ways is low-hanging fruit in a commonwealth that overwhelmingly disapproves of how the commander-in-chief is handling his job.

Obama has a 64% disapproval rating in the poll among all respondents, while only 29% approve of his stewardship of the country. The president's high disapproval rating is fueled in part by his policy on coal -- a major employer in parts of Kentucky. In fact, McConnell has a whopping 20% lead over Grimes in the east and a 28% lead over her in the west, the two coal-producing regions in the commonwealth. It is no surprise that Grimes has not embraced Obama, and has even chastised him publicly for his position on coal.

"She has made it quite clear where she stands on coal," said a Democratic strategist who spoke freely about the race on the condition of anonymity. "And she has a starkly different approach to Kentucky's coal industry than President Obama and some national Democrats."

What is troubling for McConnell is that despite being one of the most powerful Republicans in the nation, he is locked in a statistical tie with Grimes who holds a 10-point lead over McConnell in the Bluegrass region (anchored by the cities of Lexington and Frankfort), a 27-point lead over McConnell in the Jefferson County area (anchored by the city of Louisville), and an 8-point lead over McConnell in the suburbs of Louisville and Cincinnati.

The poll indicates a controversy that erupted Friday that forced McConnell's campaign manager to resign has not had a major impact on this race. Jesse Benton cut ties with the campaign as speculation swirled about his involvement in an unfolding corruption scandal related to then-Rep. Ron Paul's 2012 bid for president.

The bottom line for McConnell is that he is the No. 1 target of national Democrats. A Republican strategist acknowledged as much saying that Democratic leaders have framed this race to their donor base as an opportunity to defeat a major opponent to the Democratic agenda. National Democratic money will continue to flow into Kentucky.

Digging deeper into the data, there are no real surprises in terms of which candidate is winning traditional political demographic groups: McConnell has a 13% lead with men and is seen more favorably by voters who make $50,000 or more, while Grimes holds a seven-point lead with women and does better with voters making less than $50,000.

Democrats view the Kentucky Senate race twofold: an opportunity to defeat a Republican leader, a major symbolic victory that last occurred in 2004 when then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, was defeated by former Rep. John Thune; and more important for Democrats, the Kentucky race is a key part of the political beachhead needed to protect their vulnerable Senate majority in November.

For Republicans to take back control of the Senate floor and the committees that produce legislation and provide oversight of the Obama administration, the party needs a net gain of six seats -- a very doable task given the math and electoral map two months before Election Day, even though Democrats currently hold a 55-45 seat advantage in the chamber.

To start, Democrats need to defend 21 seats in November, while the GOP only needs to protect 15.

Take a closer look at the 36 Senate seats on the ballot this year and the news is even more disturbing for Democrats. At least three seats currently held by Democrats -- Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia -- are expected to be won by Republicans on November 4, according to the most recent CNN analysis of the 2014 midterm election. And of the six seats that CNN designated as "Up for Grabs," five are held by Democratic incumbents representing Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana and North Carolina.

At this time, Kentucky is the only GOP-held seat that CNN has placed in the "Up for Grabs" column.

So, while there are many competitive Senate races in this election, Kentucky is viewed as the premier contest heading into November.

The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International, which interviewed 1,037 adult Americans, including 671 likely voters, by telephone between August 28 and September 1. The sampling error for results for likely voters is +/-4 percentage points.

After 30 years in Senate, McConnell runs as 'candidate of change'

St. Patrick's parade to have gay group

New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade has been held for more than 250 years.

• New York St. Patrick's Day parade organizers said that they will allow first ever LGBT group to march in 2015


• The change ends longstanding ban that drew national criticism and corporate boycotts


• Last March, Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to march, and Guinness and Heineken pulled out as sponsors


• GLAAD president: "I'm cautiously optimistic that this is definitely an important and historic step ..."

New York (CNN) -- New York St. Patrick's Day parade organizers Wednesday said they will allow the first ever LGBT group to march in 2015 with an identifying banner -- ending a longstanding ban that drew national criticism and corporate boycotts.

The group being allowed to march was the only LGBT affiliated group to apply, said William O'Reilly, a spokesman for parade organizers. He said other LGBT groups can apply to march in 2016. The New York parade is the nation's oldest.

O'Reilly said LGBT community members have always been encouraged to march under the traditional apolitical banners of other marching groups.

New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade, which has been held for more than 250 years, historically banned LGBT groups from marching under their own banner. That's changing.

Last March, Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to march in the Manhattan parade, and Mayor Martin Walsh sat out the event in Boston, where a similar ban remains in place.

Three of the country's biggest beer companies also withdrew their sponsorships because gay and lesbians were excluded.

Sam Adams, owned by Boston Beer Co., pulled out as a sponsor for the Boston parade, and Guinness and Heineken pulled out from the New York parade.

"This is progress," de Blasio told reporters, adding that he needed more information before deciding whether to march next year. "What I've called for for a long time is an inclusive parade. This is a city of inclusion."

Gay rights advocates also applauded the change.

"It's about time," Sarah Kate Ellis, president of GLAAD, said in a statement. "Discrimination has no place on America's streets, least of all on Fifth Avenue. As an Irish-Catholic American, I look forward to a fully inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade that I can share with my wife and children, just as my own parents shared with me. Until then, parade organizers must be held accountable to ending this ban once and for all."

In an interview, Ellis said de Blasio's refusal to march and the loss of corporate sponsors were the "straws that broke the camel's back."

"I'm cautiously optimistic that this is definitely an important and historic step in the right direction but I will be watching to see how this unfolds over the next year," she said.

The gay group marching in New York this year is Out@NBCUniversal, a resource group of LGBT employees at NBCUniversal, according to O'Reilly.

"WNBC-TV has long been the broadcast partner of the Parade, so there was a relationship already established," O'Reilly said via email.

In Boston, no change in policy has been announced but longtime gay activist Cathy Renna said she hoped the New York decision will "make folks in Boston rethink their position."

"They really need to get with the times," Renna said.

But Boston parade organizer Philip Wuschke. Jr. told CNN that no change was planned.

"Many gay people march in Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade," he said.

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U.S. Ebola patient speaks

• Another American who recently contracted Ebola is Dr. Rick Sacra


• Nancy Writebol was diagnosed with Ebola on July 25 while in Liberia


• "She is the best part of my life," husband David Writebol says


• The mother of two was in Africa for missionary work

To hear more about Nancy Writebol's fight against Ebola, watch "Anderson Cooper 360" tonight at 8 p.m ET.

(CNN) -- Dr. Rick Sacra is the latest American to become infected with the Ebola virus while working in West Africa for the aid organization Serving in Mission, its president said Wednesday.

Sacra had been to Liberia with SIM before, and volunteered to go again after he heard fellow missionaries Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly had contracted the virus, SIM President Bruce Johnson said.

Johnson announced Sacra's name at a news conference in which Writebol spoke publicly for the first time about her ordeal.

From Charlotte, North Carolina, Writebol thanked God, her family, and health care workers in Liberia and Atlanta for nursing her back to health.

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"I'm so grateful that this beautiful woman is still with me," her husband David said. "She is the best part of my life... I love her with all my heart."

Brantly: 'I felt like I was about to die'

Sacra's story

Sacra, 51, is a married physician from Holden, Massachusetts. He was not directly treating Ebola patients in Liberia during this trip, but was delivering babies at a general hospital in Monrovia, Johnson said.

The doctor started to show symptoms of haemorrhagic fever on Friday evening. Health care workers did an Ebola test on Monday, which came back positive for the deadly virus.

Sacra was following all protocols and taking all necessary precautions against Ebola, Johnson said. It is unclear how he became infected, but SIM is working with the CDC to determine the point of contact.

When asked if the organization was going to bring Sacra back to the United States for treatment, Johnson said all options were being explored.

Sacra is not likely to receive ZMapp, the experimental drug given to Writebol and Brantly, as there are no more doses available. But with supportive care, the doctor could very well recover. While Ebola can be deadly in up to 90% of cases, about half the people in this current outbreak have survived.

Writebol's story

There were mornings in Liberia, as Writebol fought off the deadly Ebola virus, when she woke up and thought with surprise, "I'm alive."

Writebol was diagnosed on July 25. She originally thought she had malaria, she said, and took medication to fight off the mosquito-borne disease. But even after the round of medication was completed, the symptoms persisted.

A doctor took a blood sample for an Ebola test "just to make sure" and it came back positive. When she found out, Writebol told her husband it was going to be OK. But "I had no clue what was going to happen," she said.

Writebol and Brantly were flown from Liberia to be treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta in early August.

As she was being boarded onto the plane, she thought, "I don't even know if I'm going to make it to the U.S." She said she remembers little else about the moments before the flight, other than a doctor in protective clothing putting his hands around her face and saying, "Nancy, you're going home."

At Emory, Writebol was still in pain -- unable to move her legs or feet. But one day, she said, she pushed herself to get out of bed and take a shower. From that point on, doctors saw small signs of progress.

Writebol and Brantly were released from the Atlanta hospital two weeks ago, just days apart.

When asked what she thinks may have saved her -- The experimental drug? The dedicated health care workers in Liberia and Atlanta? Her faith? -- Writebol answered, "All of the above."

Writebol, whose missionary work includes 14 years of aiding orphans and vulnerable children in Africa, was in Liberia with the aid organization Serving in Mission. She and her husband arrived there in August 2013.

She guided missionaries and teams and worked with nurses at ELWA hospital in the capital of Monrovia, where her husband is the technical services manager, according to the Christian group's website.

The fact that the Writebols left the comforts of America to live in an area rife with poverty, instability and disease, and put their lives at risk to assist those suffering everyday, doesn't surprise those who know them.

John Munro, their friend and pastor at Calvary Church in Charlotte, described the couple as "the salt of the Earth," the kind of people who wouldn't give a second thought to dropping everything to help.

The only thing perhaps ironic about what's happening now is how such an "unassuming" and "very humble" woman has become international news.

"She is ... not someone who would ever make the headlines," Munro said, "apart from something like this."

Married for 40 years, the Writebols have traveled the globe, focused on their faith and their desire to help others. Wherever they've gone, their lives have been centered on their church and their family, including two now-adult sons who live in the United States.

Ebola might have derailed them, but it hasn't changed their purpose in life.

"We aren't going to stop our ministry," David Writebol said last month. "We believe we can serve wherever God sends us."

For now, the couple is going to enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren. Writebol said she "can't wait" to put her arms around her family.

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CNN's Josh Levs and Greg Botelho contributed to this story.

More 'Frozen' on the way

"Frozen" has become a phenomenon, and with the announcement of "Frozen Fever," a new short coming in 2015, it shows no signs of slowing down. Indeed, the project has piled up some astounding numbers, including a box office tally of more than $1.27 billion -- including $873 million internationally.

That's a heck of a return on the film's budget, which was $150 million. The story was based on the Hans Christian Andersen tale "The Snow Queen."

"Frozen" spent two weekends as the U.S. box office's No. 1 movie and 16 weeks in the top 10.

DVD and Blu-ray sales have been just as outstanding. The film has sold 7.6 million DVDs and another 6.5 million on Blu-ray.

The awards haven't just been financial. "Frozen" won two Oscars, including best animated feature. It was accepted by producer Peter Del Vecho and directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck.

Robert Lopez, right, became the youngest EGOT recipient -- the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony -- when he won the best original song Oscar for "Let It Go." He co-wrote the song with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

The film's soundtrack, driven by such songs as "Let It Go" and "For the First Time in Forever," has old 3 million copies.

The voices of Kristen Bell (Anna, left) and Idina Menzel (Elsa) are all over the "Frozen" soundtrack, which spent 13 weeks at the top of Billboard's album chart.

"Let It Go" proved the runaway hit of the film. The song has been dubbed into 43 languages.

Idina Menzel's version of "Let It Go" hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Five "Frozen" characters are joining the ABC series "Once Upon a Time," including Elsa, who's played by Georgina Haig.

Disney quickly added the Anna and Elsa characters to its theme parks. The wait to meet the two got to be as long as six hours at Epcot and almost as long at Disneyland.

Type " 'Let It Go' parodies" into Google, and the search engine will return 29,900,000 results. There aren't that many parodies -- fortunately -- but there are definitely hundreds, including "A Frozen Father" (above).

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• Disney plans to release a new "Frozen" animated short


• Called "Frozen Fever," it'll reunite the central characters and the creative team


• The short is slated to arrive in the spring

(CNN) -- Walt Disney Studios is chipping a new "Frozen" film off the old block.

On Wednesday, the studio announced that its blockbuster 2013 movie will soon have a miniature sequel in the animated short "Frozen Fever."

The film will reunite the award-winning creative team behind "Frozen," including "Let It Go" songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and will bring the film's central characters back to life.

Inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen tale "The Snow Queen," "Frozen" told the story of two sisters, Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel), and how an impressive but isolating gift of Elsa's almost came between them.

When "Frozen" was released in November, critics praised it as a return to Disney's prime, and the box office backed that up. Domestically, "Frozen" earned about $400 million and was the third highest-grossing film of 2013.

Disney's new short, "Frozen Fever," will focus on Anna's birthday as her sister, Elsa, and rugged love interest Kristoff "are determined to give her the best celebration ever." But, Disney's statement warns, "Elsa's icy powers may put more than just the party at risk."

Don't worry, hug-loving snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) is returning for "Frozen Fever" too, and there'll be a new song. "Frozen Fever" is expected to bow in the spring.