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| Dallas nurse Amber Vinson (Family handout) |
The young health-care worker hails from the Akron area and has two degrees from Kent State University, where three of her relatives, including her mother, work.
A family member said Vinson has wanted to be in the medical field since she was a little girl.
"She wanted to help people. Amber has always been kind and compassionate," said Diane Sloane Rhynes, whose late brother was married to Vinson's mother for several years. She said the last time she saw Vinson was in 2011 when she was working in the intensive care unit at Summa Akron City Hospital and planning to move out of state for another job.
"She has always been very sweet and kind," said Rhynes. "I considered her my niece and my heart is heavy with this news."
Officials have said Vinson had extensive contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas.
She flew from Dallas to Cleveland on Wednesday and returned on Monday, boarding a Frontier Airlines yet even though she had a fever of 99.5 degrees.
"She flew into Cleveland to prepare for her wedding," said Toinette Parrilla, director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health.
Authorities say she lived alone in Dallas and did not have any pets. She flew on a plane whose path included a stop in ATL.
Vinson will be flown to Atlanta for treatment at Emory University. That sounds like great news as Emory is where Dr Ken Brantley was cured. There is too much going on online with the RACE card since Nina Pham got the blood transfusion from Dr Brantley today. People were bickering on why Dincan, the index patient never got Brantley's blood without even questioning blood types.
With files from NBC News
