The Doctors Without Borders humanitarian grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan

Craig's older brother, Christopher, asked his friends to pray for his sibling

Spencer's sister, 31-year-old Andrea Spencer, wrote on Facebook that their mother is battling stage 5 kidney failure

His uncle Arnie Spencer told MailOnline on Friday from his Michigan home: 'I'm angry that he is getting trashed'

The family of New York Ebola victim Dr Craig Spencer came to his defense on Friday after he was criticized for failing to quarantine himself on his return from West Africa.

'As far as I'm concerned he did nothing wrong,' his uncle, Arnie Spencer told MailOnline. 'I'm angry that he is getting trashed.'

Dr Spencer, 33, has been slammed for going bowling in Brooklyn, taking subways and a taxi, walking on Manhattan's High Line and going to restaurants even though he was feeling sluggish - around a week after arriving back in the U.S. from Guinea where he treated Ebola patients.

Arnie Spencer said that his nephew's detractors are being unfair.

'I don't like what's being said at all,' he said at his home in Royal Oak, Michigan.

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Trio: Craig Spencer, pictured center, and his brother Christopher, left, who are only a few years apart, grew up in the middle-class Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe

Dr Spencer was working with the French aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres in West Africa, a region which is Ground Zero for Ebola cases.

'He's a hero to me,' said his uncle. 'He's a fantastic humanitarian and that is how people should think of him. He wanted to be a doctor without borders from when he was a kid. It's all he wanted to do.

'He didn't just want to be a doctor, he wanted to be a doctor without borders.'

Dr Craig Spencer's live-in fiancée Morgan Dixon, 30, is one of three people now in quarantine because of contact with him.

His Uncle Arnie said that if he had had his way his nephew would have never traveled to West Africa to treat patients of the dreaded disease.

Tight-knit clan: Ebola-stricken doctor Craig Spencer (far right) pictured here with his family, (L to R): mom Pat, dad Jim and sister Andrea

He said: 'I don't know about other members of the family, but I was against him going. But I'm still very proud of him.'

And he has no fears that Craig won't recover.

'He's getting the best care possible in New York. It's not like he is still in Africa. 'I have no doubt he will pull through,' he added.

Arnie Spencer said that he hasn't spoken to his nephew recently because of his travels but is looking forward to next fall when Craig and Morgan plan to tie the knot.

Other family members of Dr Spencer are struggling to come to terms with the devastating diagnosis, which has arrived on the heels of another heartbreaking family health crisis.

Dr Spencer, 33, tested positive for Ebola on Thursday after returning from Guinea, where he had been treating patients suffering from the deadly virus.

Brothers and sister: Craig is said to be very close with his two siblings, baby sister Andrea Spencer, 31 (pictured left) and older brother, Christopher (right)

Frantic: Andrea Spencer took to Facebook to express her devastation over her brother's Ebola diagnosis, which came amid their mother's battle with kidney failure

Worried for his brother: Christopher Spencer, who is married with two children, asked his friends to pray for Craig

Spencer is currently undergoing treatment at Bellevue Hospital and is said to be in a fair condition. His fiancee and two friends who had been in close contact with him have been quarantined as a precaution.

Spencer's doctors would not go into detail about his condition, but New York City Mayor Bill di Blasio said on Thursday night that the patient was 'in good shape.'

On social media, Dr Spencer's siblings expressed their shock and dismay at their brother's predicament, made all the worse by the fact their mother is currently battling end-stage kidney disease.

'Is this seriously happening right now?! can i please get a reprieve from this non-stop heartbreak?!' Craig Spencer's sister, Andrea, wrote on her Facebook page Thursday evening. 'First; my mother's stage 5 renal failure diagnosis, now my brother?!'

Craig and Andrea’s mother, Pat Casey-Spencer, 56, was listed as the administrator of a private Facebook group called 'Praying for a Kidney.'

Andrea Spencer, 31, a student at Wayne State University, appealed to her friends asking them to pray for her family at their greatest time of need.

Another health crisis: Craig's mother, Pat Casey-Spencer (pictured left with daughter Andrea and right with husband Jim), reportedly has Stage 5 kidney failure

Inseparable: Ms Spencer, 31, called her humanitarian big brother 'her hero, best friend and her other half'

'STOP STOP STOP STOP, please world i beg, STOP!' Ms Spencer pleaded on her page. 'i NEED my mum and my brother so terribly bad.'

Craig's older brother, Christopher Spencer, who is married with two children, also took to Facebook after learning of the diagnosis.

'I need alot [sic] of prayers tonight for my little brother,' Mr Spencer, a business owner from Michigan, wrote. 'Hes [sic] the dr. In NYC diagnosed with ebola.'

Craig Spencer, the son and Jim and Pat Casey-Spencer, grew up in a middle-class suburb of Detroit called Grosse Pointe, where he attended Grosse Pointe North High School.

In 2008, Spencer graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine, followed by a residency at New York Hospital Queens.

At risk: Spencer (pictured in protective gear) contracted Ebola while working as part of a Doctors Without Borders team in Guinea, West Africa

In love: Dr Spencer is set to marry his fiancee, Morgan Dixon (left), 30, next September in Detroit

To add to his many professional accolades, Spencer earned a Master of Public Health degree at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and only recently completed a fellowship in international emergency medicine. He is board-certified in emergency medicine.

'The physician is a dedicated humanitarian on the staff of New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center who went to an area of medical crisis to help a desperately underserved population,' the hospital said in a statement to CNN.

The 33-year-old doctor has made a number of trips to Africa in recent years, beginning in Rwanda where he helped create a teaching curriculum for emergency care workers.

Happy couple: Dr Spencer and Miss Dixon met in China while attending Henan University in 2007. The wife-to-be is currently in quarantine as a precaution

Top-level care: The doctor and his fiancee are being cared for by specially-trained teams in quarantine at Bellevue Hospital in midtown Manhattan

He later journeyed to Burundi, where he worked on an infant mortality survey, followed by a trip the Democratic Republic of the Congo during an outbreak of neurocysticercosis – an infection caused by parasites, which leads to seizures and epilepsy.

Spencer attended Henan University in China for a year between 2006 and 2007 to study Chinese language and literature, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is also said to be fluent in French, Spanish and Greek.

The young doctor has been described by his neighbors on West 147th Street in Harlem as incredible friendly and hard-working, and someone who is always willing to land a hand.

According to their online wedding announcement, the couple are due to get married next year.

'Craig's friends say he's a goofball, incredible, gifted in both art, music and science, and a go-getter,' the announcement says.

Route: Dr Craig Spencer rode the subway along with visiting a Brooklyn bowling alley, The Gutter, and the High Line park. It was revealed Friday that he had also eaten at The Meatball Shop in Greenwich Village and stopped at Blue Bottle Coffee on the High Line

TIMELINE: THE RUN-UP TO DR SPENCER'S EBOLA DIAGNOSIS September 16: Dr Craig Spencer flew to Guinea to treat Ebola patients as a member of the French organization Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers) October 14: Dr Spencer departed Guinea on a flight to Brussels. He reported no symptoms. October 17: He boarded a flight to the U.S. on Brussels Airlines Flight SN0501. Reported no symptoms. Arrived at JFK and was screened with no symptoms upon arrival. October 21: At 7 AM, he reported fatigue and exhaustion. No fever, vomiting, diarrhea. At around 3:00 PM, Dr Spencer visited The Meatball Shop for 40 minutes. The Meatball Shop is located at 64 Greenwich Avenue. Around 4:30 PM, he visited the High Line. Walked on High Line and stopped at the Blue Bottle Coffee stand (10th Ave & W 16th St) At around 5:30 PM, he got off the High Line at 34th Street and took the 1 train to the 145th Street station. October 22: At around 1:00 PM, Dr Spencer went running along Riverside Drive and Westside Highway. Around 2:00 PM, he went to pick up Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share at 143rd St and Amsterdam Avenue (Corbin Hill Farm) and picked up a box which he took to his apartment. At around 5:30 PM, Dr Spencer left for The Gutter bowling alley in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with two friends. For his arrival at Gutter, he took the A train at 145th Street and transferred at 14th Street and took the L train to Bedford Avenue. Around 8:30 PM, Dr Spencer left The Gutter. For his return trip, he used Uber as his means of transportation. October 23: Around 10:15AM, he first reported a fever. At this point, he called Medecins Sans Frontieres and the New York City Health Department. He was immediately taken to Bellevue by FDNY EMS. Advertisement

Spencer was quarantined at Bellevue Hospital on Thursday, six days after returning from Ebola-stricken Guinea.

After taking his own temperature twice a day since his return, Spencer reported running a fever and experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms for the first time early on Thursday.

He was then taken from his Manhattan apartment to Bellevue by a special team wearing protective gear, city officials said.

During a late-night press conference Thursday, New york Governor Andrew Cuomo said Spencer checked into the hospital when he realized he had a temperature of 100.3F fever, suggesting he may have caught the onset of symptoms early.

Spencer was not feeling ill and would not have been contagious before Thursday morning, city Health Commissioner Mary Travis Bassett said.

Owners of the bowling alley he visited on Thursday said that they had voluntarily closed it for the day as a precaution.

The driver of the Uber taxi Spencer took was not considered to be at risk, and officials insisted the three subway lines - A, 1 and L- he rode before falling ill remained safe.

Spencer's case brings to nine the total number of people treated for Ebola in U.S. hospitals since August, but just two, Duncan's nurses, contracted the virus in the United States.

The New York case surfaced days after dozens of people who were exposed to America's 'Patient Zero' Thomas Eric Duncan emerged from a 21-day incubation period with clean bills of health, easing a national sense of crisis that took hold when nurses Pham and Vinson became infected.

As New Yorkers headed to work on Friday, some were unfazed by the news, while others said it added to their anxieties about the perils of living in a crowded city.