Man asked to be taken off life support after flesh-eating disease left his lungs like ‘Swiss cheese’
A father has spoken out about just how ill his son became ahead of his death after contracting a deadly fungal infection
Ian Pritchard, a 29-year-old chef from Detroit, Michigan, was on life support in hospital after catching a deadly infection.
The infection, blastomycosis, proved to be so severe it had eaten holes in his lungs.
He has since died after asking for his life support to be turned off.
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Ian was initially hospitalized in November with flu-like symptoms, but his situation became more dire as his health deteriorated rapidly.
Before his death, his father Ron Pritchard spoke about his son and explained how his lungs came to have holes in them.
“He didn’t get in very much trouble. He was no trouble to raise. People love his food, people love him,” his father said while speaking to UpNorthLive.
“It is in the air, it is in the trees, the wet leaves, the ground, the mud, it is everywhere in northern Michigan, in fact the midwest is covered in blastomycosis.
“They showed us a picture of his lungs and they literally looked like Swiss cheese.”
Ahead of his son’s death, Pritchard also spoke of the devastation the family would feel if Ian did die.
“Stillborn at 8 months, if we lose him, it will be two sons gone. We have our daughter left but our oldest and youngest would be gone.
The GoFundMe page that was set up also confirmed that Ian died February 2 this year. The organizer behind the page, Wendy Sobeck, was a coworker of Ian and explained his family’s reaction.
“The Blastomycosis fungal infection ravaged Ian’s lungs beyond repair," the update read. "Ian must have felt that he was not going to come out of it and his strength to go on was depleted.
"So Ron, Linda and Ian’s sister Megan told him that it was OK to let go. They did not want to be selfish and hang onto him if he was ready to go, so life support was turned off and he passed away."
Ron Pritchard had also thanked all the people who had donated to the family’s GoFundMe page.
“Thank you isn’t enough, thank you very much isn’t enough, walking up and giving someone a hug, and I've done that a lot, just doesn’t seem like enough,” he said.
“They don’t even know him, they know me from the radio but they don’t know us and yet they have felt the need to say ‘yeah, I’ll help you guys, you are worth it.’
Gerrard Kaonga