Ebola outbreak hits close to home for two Heat players

Heat forward Luol Deng was born in South Sudan, raised in England. (Jim Rassol, Sun Sentinel)
Heat forward Luol Deng was born in South Sudan, raised in England. (Jim Rassol, Sun Sentinel) (Jim Rassol / Sun Sentinel)

It was shortly after Miami Heat center Chris Bosh returned home from Ghana this offseason that he first heard news of the outbreak that since has turned into an epidemic.

"By the time I got back home, that's when we started hearing of things," Bosh said Friday of the Ebola epidemic that now has become an issue beyond west Africa. "I was like, 'Man, we were one country over.' It's kind of scary."


The fact that concern has now spread to his hometown of Dallas, with hospital staff impacted there, further caught Bosh's attention.

"I think it's gotten the attention of everybody," he said before Friday's exhibition against the Golden State Warriors at the Sprint Center. "Anytime you have a potential outbreak situation, and I'm from Dallas, it's kind of a unique situation."

For Heat forward Luol Deng, who was born in South Sudan and raised in England, it hits even closer to home.

While he has not traveled to the highly impacted countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, he has been involved in numerous African relief efforts over the years.

"I have been all over Africa. I've been to Senegal, I've been to Nigeria," he said of two countries that also have reported Ebola cases. "I've been to Ghana, a lot of times. Sometimes you hear about things. I haven't been there this summer and I haven't been there in a while, so all I know is what I hear. But I'm sure it's affecting everybody's way of living."

Deng said while some are debating travel bans to west Africa, the greater concern should be the breakout itself.

"The only thing I want people to do is just really find a way to fix it and cure it," he said. "All the other stuff, that's not on me to fight rules or speak against anything. My whole thing is this is affecting a lot of lives and a lot of people, and so whatever we could do together to find a solution to ending it, because right now it's getting worse every day.

"People are ignoring it, but it's going to reach everybody. I just really hope that more action would take place to do something to end it." Follow him at or