Family mourns first US Ebola victim

A memorial service was held in North Carolina on Saturday for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the United States.

Reports from the Southern Baptist church in Salisbury, N.C., indicate that friends and family gathered to remember him as a compassionate and courageous man, who contracted the virus while carrying a sick woman in Liberia, before coming back to the United States earlier this year.

{mosads}“Let’s not forget how he died. He died helping someone,” said Harry Korkoryah, Duncan’s half brother, according to The New York Times. “He answered that call from God.” 

Family members have been critical of the Dallas clinic where Ducnan was treated — the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital — for initially sending him home without diagnosing him with Ebola after traveling from Liberia. It took three more days for health officials to diagnose him.

The response triggered concerns about whether or not American facilities and health professionals were prepared to deal with a major Ebola outbreak in the United States. That criticism has since spread to the Obama administration, which some say has fumbled the response to the outbreak.

Duncan died on Oct. 8. He was 42 years old.

Two nurses who cared for him at the Dallas hospital have since become infected with Ebola. Dozens more who had contact with him are now being monitored by health officials for possible symptoms.

Duncan’s remains were cremated in accordance with procedures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.