Ebola victim's widow seeks help getting her husband's remains returned home from Liberia

Ebola victim's widow: He could have brought the virus to US

Widow of Ebola victim says he fell gravely ill before he could have boarded flight to Minnesota, pleads with American officials for help as she says Liberian government is ignoring requests to have her husband's ashes and death certificate brought home

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," July 31, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: This is a Fox News alert. A patient with the Ebola virus is heading to the United States. Emory University Hospital in Atlanta says there are plans to transfer an infected patient to its special facility within the next few days. No word on who the patient is or exactly when the patient will arrive in the U.S.

But tonight, the Medevac plane with the CDC biological containment systems on board is headed for Liberia. And right now, two American aid workers in West Africa are battling Ebola, both are from America since birth. Ebola has already killed another U.S. citizen. Patrick Sawyer died after getting on a flight from Liberia to Nigeria. And he was just weeks away from getting on flight to the U.S. His family lives in Minnesota, his wife says, so he was headed there soon.

And Decontee Sawyer joins us. Good evening, Decontee and I'm terribly sorry to hear about your husband.

DECONTEE SAWYER, WIFE OF AMERICAN EBOLA VICTIM: Yes. Thank you and good evening to you, too.

VAN SUSTEREN: Good evening. Did you know that he was sick? Did you know that he was coming in contact with people with Ebola?

SAWYER: I found out that he was sick on Thursday of last week. Thursday afternoon. And then Friday morning at 3:00 A.M. in the morning, I found out that he died.

VAN SUSTEREN: He was working for the Liberian government. And he was headed to Nigeria in plane, is that right?

SAWYER: Right, right. He was working for the Liberian government and he was in the Nigeria when he was sick with Ebola. And he was quarantined in Nigeria. Yeah.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know with whom he came in contact with when he has in Liberia to get Ebola. I mean, what kind of work was he doing or was he caring for someone?

SAWYER: Yes. Well he was caring for his sister. His sister was sick and didn't know what it was. I had found out that his sister was sick about a week prior. And she died and we didn't know what it was. But I do know he helped care for his sister while she was sick. But then it was after the fact, after she died that her body was tested positive for Ebola.

VAN SUSTEREN: And so, and now -- and more trouble is you have young children, he was coming to the United States soon for birthday for your children. And you are unable to even get his death certificate or take care of the remains. I understand there is a problem with that.

SAWYER: Yes. Yes. It's a problem with that. Patrick was definitely coming to the United States after he was through with Nigeria. He was coming to the United States for the girls' birthday party. Having their birthday party August 16th for our two older girls, Ava and Mia, they're turning six and five and I, you know, shared the date with Patrick and nothing would have stopped Patrick from coming to his girls' birthday party. He loved those girls so much he and wanted to be here for them, and so, yeah. He definitely was coming.

And now that he is dead, it's bad enough that that is going on. What`s even worse now is that I am unable to get his remains. They -- I haven't heard anything back from the Liberian government for quite a few days now. I was in communication with them immediately after it happened. And I was assured that they were going to bring back his, you know, send it to me. And I needed ASAP, you know, I need -- we're planning a memorial, and it's been hard -- I'm not getting -- there is no communication now between them and me. So, I've taken the next step in trying to get his remains back.

Because, you know, Patrick is a U.S. citizen. You know, is he's a U.S. citizen and he was very proud of that when he got his citizenship and got to vote for the first time in the last presidential election. He was very proud to be able to vote. So, you know, I'm reaching out to my government to help me get my husband's remains back and actually Senator Al Franken's office have been able to intercede and ask we speak I've gotten the word back from them and they are working on that for me. So, I want to thank them for stepping in.

VAN SUSTEREN: Decontee, thank you very much. I'm terribly sorry for you and also for your children who lost their father. I'm sorry, Decontee.

SAWYER: Thank you and God bless you.