--- title: Ebola: Dallas Patient’s Son Says “Keep Praying” description: Thomas Eric Duncan’s son sent a message to his mom in quarantine: be strong. canonical: https://time.com/3479976/dallas-ebola-duncan-son-pray/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-08T02:49:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:38:54.274Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Ebola Patient's Son Asks For Prayer og:description: “Keep praying that my family is going to be okay," says the son of the Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan og:url: https://time.com/3479976/dallas-ebola-duncan-son-pray/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2cd1cb6ada7fb69/69875f39428a9e7ee3cc45f7/ap989355564579.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Karsiah Duncan, Mike Rawlings, Saymendy Lloyd og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola Patient's Son Asks For Prayer twitter:description: “Keep praying that my family is going to be okay," says the son of the Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2cd1cb6ada7fb69/69875f39428a9e7ee3cc45f7/ap989355564579.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dallas Ebola Patient’s Son: “Keep Praying”  by [Denver Nicks / Dallas](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks / Dallas Oct 8, 2014 2:49 AM CUT  Karsiah Duncan, center, son of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan speaks during a news conference while Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, left rear, and Saymendy Lloyd look on, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in Dallas. Karsiah Duncan, center, son of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan speaks during a news conference while Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, left rear, and Saymendy Lloyd look on, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in Dallas.Tim Sharp—AP  by [Denver Nicks / Dallas](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks / Dallas Oct 8, 2014 2:49 AM CUT The son of the Liberian man fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital after contracting Ebola asked the community to keep praying for his family in a statement to the media Tuesday night. “I just came out here because I feel like God was calling me to see my dad even though I got school still going on,” said Karsiah Eric Duncan, who is in college in West Texas and hasn’t seen his father, Thomas Eric Duncan, since he was three. Karsiah has visited Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where his father is in critical [condition](http://time.com/3478742/ebola-dallas-patient/ "undefined") and being treated with an experimental Ebola drug, but did not get to see him. Duncan is the [first person ](http://time.com/3474650/ebola-dallas-judge-jenkins/ "undefined")diagnosed with Ebola outside of Africa, though a nurse in [Spain](http://time.com/3478888/spain-ebola-nurse/ "undefined") has since come down with the disease after treating two Ebola-stricken missionaries who had returned from Sierra Leone. Karsiah thanked members of the community for their support, the hospital treating his father, and President Obama for deploying troops to join the fight against Ebola in West Africa. He also had a message for his mother, Louise Troh, who has been living under quarantine for a week so far to ensure that she has not contracted the disease. “Be strong,” he said. “Even though it’s hard being in a house for 21 days and not knowing what’s going to happen after she gets out.” Ebola can take up to 21 days to manifest symptoms. The young man also had a request for the [community](http://time.com/3468861/ebola-liberia-dallas/ "undefined") at large. “Keep praying that my family is going to be okay and my dad makes it out safely,” he said. “I hope they find a cure for it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3479976/dallas-ebola-duncan-son-pray/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3479976/dallas-ebola-duncan-son-pray/"},"headline":"Dallas Ebola Patient’s Son: “Keep Praying”","datePublished":"2014-10-08T02:49:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:38:54.274Z","description":"Thomas Eric Duncan’s son sent a message to his mom in quarantine: be strong","url":"https://time.com/3479976/dallas-ebola-duncan-son-pray/","keywords":["ebola","Disease","Disaster","Dallas"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2cd1cb6ada7fb69/69875f39428a9e7ee3cc45f7/ap989355564579.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks / Dallas"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2cd1cb6ada7fb69/69875f39428a9e7ee3cc45f7/ap989355564579.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Karsiah Duncan, Mike Rawlings, Saymendy Lloyd","caption":"Karsiah Duncan, Mike Rawlings, Saymendy Lloyd","creditText":"Tim Sharp—AP","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/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3479976/dallas-ebola-duncan-son-pray/","name":"Dallas Ebola Patient’s Son: “Keep Praying”"}}]}] ```