--- title: Parents of NBC News Freelancer With Ebola: 'His Spirits Are Better' description: The parents of an NBC News freelance cameraman who caught Ebola while working in Liberia say their son is “tender but cheerful today." canonical: https://time.com/3460422/parents-of-nbc-news-freelancer-with-ebola-his-spirits-are-better/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-03T11:53:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:34:11.919Z article:section: Health og:title: Parents of NBC News Freelancer With Ebola: 'His Spirits Are Better' og:description: The parents of an NBC News freelance cameraman who caught Ebola while working in Liberia say their son is “tender but cheerful today." og:url: https://time.com/3460422/parents-of-nbc-news-freelancer-with-ebola-his-spirits-are-better/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4714bc76b838c7fa/6986a6ccf983e7293e050035/141003-ashoka-mukpo-02_d6d2ff1c05b6ff825a928e7d0e3eb9bb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 141003-ashoka-mukpo-02_d6d2ff1c05b6ff825a928e7d0e3eb9bb og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Parents of NBC News Freelancer With Ebola: 'His Spirits Are Better' twitter:description: The parents of an NBC News freelance cameraman who caught Ebola while working in Liberia say their son is “tender but cheerful today." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4714bc76b838c7fa/6986a6ccf983e7293e050035/141003-ashoka-mukpo-02_d6d2ff1c05b6ff825a928e7d0e3eb9bb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Parents of NBC News Freelancer With Ebola: 'His Spirits Are Better' by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Oct 3, 2014 11:53 AM CUT  Ashoka Mukpo Ashoka MukpoNBC by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Oct 3, 2014 11:53 AM CUT The parents of an NBC News freelance cameraman who caught Ebola while working in Liberia say their son is “tender but cheerful today” as he awaits his return home to the United States. “Obviously he is scared and worried,” Dr. Mitchell Levy told TODAY’s Tamron Hall Friday. His son, Ashoka Mupko, has been “seeing the death and tragedy and now it’s really hit home for him. But his spirits are better today.” . . . [Read the rest of the story at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/parents-nbc-news-freelancer-ebola-his-spirits-are-better-n217436?cid=par-time-article%5F20141003 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3460422/parents-of-nbc-news-freelancer-with-ebola-his-spirits-are-better/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3460422/parents-of-nbc-news-freelancer-with-ebola-his-spirits-are-better/"},"headline":"Parents of NBC News Freelancer With Ebola: 'His Spirits Are Better'","datePublished":"2014-10-03T11:53:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:34:11.919Z","description":"Ashoka Mukpo's parents, Dr. Mitchell Levy and Diana Mukpo, say that despite his diagnosis, their son Ashoka Mukpo remains in good spirits.","url":"https://time.com/3460422/parents-of-nbc-news-freelancer-with-ebola-his-spirits-are-better/","keywords":["ebola"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4714bc76b838c7fa/6986a6ccf983e7293e050035/141003-ashoka-mukpo-02_d6d2ff1c05b6ff825a928e7d0e3eb9bb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4714bc76b838c7fa/6986a6ccf983e7293e050035/141003-ashoka-mukpo-02_d6d2ff1c05b6ff825a928e7d0e3eb9bb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"141003-ashoka-mukpo-02_d6d2ff1c05b6ff825a928e7d0e3eb9bb","caption":"Ashoka Mukpo","creditText":"NBC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3460422/parents-of-nbc-news-freelancer-with-ebola-his-spirits-are-better/","name":"Parents of NBC News Freelancer With Ebola: 'His Spirits Are Better'"}}]}] ```