DALLAS (AP) — Family and friends are telling the life story of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States.
The 42-year-old died in a Dallas hospital this morning.
Duncan grew up next to a leper colony in Liberia and was forced to flee by civil war before returning years later to find the country ravaged by Ebola. His brother says Duncan came to the U.S. in late September to attend the high-school graduation of his son and realize a long-held ambition to join relatives. Duncan’s son was born in a refugee camp in Ivory Coast and brought to the U.S. as a toddler when the boy’s mother successfully applied for resettlement.
When Duncan arrived in Dallas, he showed no symptoms of Ebola. Neighbors in Liberia believe he became infected a few weeks ago when he helped carry a sick pregnant neighbor who later died from Ebola. It’s unclear if Duncan knew of the woman’s diagnosis before he traveled to the U.S.
Family members who shared a Dallas apartment with Duncan after his arrival remain in quarantine.
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APPHOTO NY111: FILE – This 2011 photo provided by Wilmot Chayee shows Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S., at a wedding in Ghana. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where Duncan was being treated for the disease, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014 said Duncan has died. (AP Photo/Wilmot Chayee) (2 Oct 2014)
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