A 29-year-old Michigan chef died last week after battling a rare fungal disease that ravaged his lungs.
Sometime before Thanksgiving, Ian Pritchard contracted blastomycosis, a fungus-borne illness that targeted and wore out his respiratory system.
“They showed us a picture of his lungs, and they literally looked like Swiss cheese,” his father, Ron Pritchard, told UpNorthLive in December.
Pritchard was taken off life support Saturday at a Detroit hospital, according to a GoFundMe page that raised almost $20,000 for his family .
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“The Blastomycosis fungal infection ravaged Ian’s lungs beyond repair,” the page read.
In people with weakened immune systems, the infection will spread from the lungs to the central nervous system along with the skin and joints, according to the Centers f or Disease Control and Prevention .