Nina Pham, the first person to have contracted Ebola on U.S. soil, was declared virus-free on Friday, Oct. 24, and has returned to her home in north Texas. Pham was one of two nurses to contract the deadly virus from Thomas Duncan, a Liberian man who was the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. Duncan is believed to be the first carrier of the virus into the U.S., and faulty hospital protocol lead to the two nurses’ exposure to the disease.

Pham was released from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda on Friday, where she had been in isolation since Oct. 16. Before leaving the DMV, Pham met with both President Obama and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease chief at the NIH, receiving friendly hugs from both of them. She attended a 20-minute press conference to address her condition.

Reading from a prepared statement, Pham called her experience “very stressful and challenging for [her] and for [her] family.” She stated that she felt “fortunate and blessed” to be there and that she plans to return to her normal life in Texas with her 1-year-old King Charles spaniel Bentley. Bentley was quarantined shortly after Pham’s initial diagnosis and has since tested negative for the virus. However, he will not be allowed out of isolated conditions until Nov. 1.

Pham’s coworker and fellow Ebola patient Amber Vinson was also declared virus-free on Friday, Oct. 24 and released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Vinson was flown to the hospital for treatment after her diagnosis and has been there since Oct. 15, according to an article by Reuters. Pham and Vinson were two of 76 total hospital workers who cared for Duncan before his passing, and came in contact with many of his bodily fluids while working to save him.

According to USA Today, Pham arrived at Meacham Airport in Fort Worth, TX just before midnight on Friday. Her survival of the disease has now given her immunity to it, and has given hope to many who believed Ebola might be too much for the U.S. medical field to handle.

WJ senior and Bethesda resident Danielle Orsak believes that Pham’s recovery is a step in the right direction.

“I think her clearance shows progression because if it is treatable in one person, it should be treatable in most other people,” Orsak said.

Although neither Pham’s nor Vinson’s cases are probably  the last the U.S.will see of Ebola, her return to her normal life in Texas is definitely progress in the fight against this illness.