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CHARLOTTE, NC — While hospital officials in Texas and the Center for Disease Control are taking heat Wednesday for how they’ve handled the first Ebola case in the United States, the family of the man suffering from the illness spoke exclusively with WCCB News.
We are learning more about possible missteps in Thomas Eric Duncan’s treatment.
His nephew, Josephus Weeks, lives in Kannapolis, NC. He talked with WCCB’s Courtney Francisco in his first appearance on camera since he learned of his uncle’s sickness.
“We’re just hoping and praying that Eric survives tonight,” said Weeks. “We got our hopes up for him.”
He is now worrying about how to save one of his own. He knows the experimental drug that saved the lives of two Ebola patients with ties to Charlotte is no longer available.
“Eric is a family man,” said Weeks. “He’s still a person, and we would appreciate if he could get the best care possible.’
Weeks echos reports that his uncle went to a Dallas hospital after arriving in the U.S. from Liberia.
He says doctors sent Duncan home with antibiotics, but he came back to the hospital days later. At that point, doctors quarantined him and confirmed he had the virus.
“It’s very stressful, but we just, we appreciate as much help as we can get, because they just got here and contracted this stuff,” said Weeks. “He needs to pay back the hospital, and he does have kids that require some help as well.”
That’s new information that Duncan traveled from Liberia to see his children. Weeks says doctors are checking those children for any signs of Ebola.
“That’s what I want, just for my family member to be okay,” worried Weeks.
Now Weeks wonders how his family will pay for this treatment. SIM USA and Samartian’s Purse paid more than $1 million in treatment for Nancy Writebol and two doctors.
He sent his first words to his uncle since the hospitalization through WCCB News, “Eric, I love you, and you know, man, you’re my brother from day one,” Weeks said. “I’ve been fighting all week. I haven’t slept yet, but I just wanted to let you know we are still here. We’re not sleeping just like you. We feeling the pain. We feel the pain here, too.”
