Son of American Ebola Patient: 'Dad Will Not Leave Mom'

The devoted husband of an American aid worker stricken with the Ebola virus is sticking by her despite the danger that keeps her isolated in a bungalow in Liberia, their son said Wednesday. “Dad will not leave mom,” Jeremy Writebol told NBC News. But that doesn’t mean David Writebol can be at the side of his wife, Nancy, their son said. “I know that Dad is going over to the house and standing outside and communicating with Mom through the window as he can, as the doctors are there and able to help her while he's there as well,” Jeremy Writebol said. “But he has to do that in a containment suit as well just to continue to protect him.”

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Nancy Writebol, from Charlotte, was infected while working as an assistant to medical staff of the North Carolina-based aid group Samaritan’s Purse. Exactly how she contracted Ebola is a mystery. She didn’t have direct contact with patients in the isolation unit but helped decontaminate doctors and nurses who did, her son said. He said his mom receives several visits from medical staff each day, but she is for the most part alone in the small home in Monrovia. “The doctors and those we've heard from have all reported that mom is in stable condition,” he said.

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— Gil Aegerter