An NBC News freelance cameraman from Rhode Island who contracted Ebola is on his way back to the U.S.
Thirty-three-year-old Ashoka Mukpo of Providence was working in Liberia, a country for which his family and friends say he cared deeply.
He will be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the same hospital where Dr. Rick Sacra of Holden, Massachusetts, was treated for Ebola.
Ashoka Mukpo's mother, Diana, told NECN Friday just how difficult the news is.
"There's no way to feel alright about it. It's incredibly stressful," said Diana Mukpo. "We're getting him th best medical care we can, but it's only stress and anxiety for all of us."
After he began showing symptoms, Ashoka Mukpo quarantined himself. He is in the early stages of the disease, his mother said.
Diana Mukpo arrived in Nebraska Sunday night to greet her son when he lands.
U.S. & World
"Ashoka feels tremendously connected to the Liberian people," said Diana Mukpo. "He wanted to document the impact that this is having socially and economically."
A friend and former classmate who studied with Ashoka Mukpo at Georgetown University agreed about the cameraman's desire to help the people of West Africa.
"I just always knew him as a very thoughtful, caring person," Chad Bilyeu told NECN Friday. "I saw that the studies, and his interest in Africa, was very altruistic."
NBC News hired Ashoka Mukpo Tuesday to work on a team with Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman, covering the outbreak of the illness in Liberia.
As concerns over the virus mount in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control sent some tweets reminding those concerned about how the virus is spread.
#Ebola is spread by direct contact w/ body fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects, like needles. pic.twitter.com/AJJTeZtF51 — CDC (@CDCgov) October 5, 2014
Ebola is not spread through casual contact or through the air. pic.twitter.com/0tWaoztrZg — CDC (@CDCgov) October 5, 2014
