A Colorado Springs teenager just a few weeks away from starting college has had his plans put on hold by a disease believed to afflict just one in a million people.

Seventeen-year-old Devon Aimes, a 2009 Rampart High School graduate, is in a medically induced coma at Memorial Hospital for Children. He is expected to recover, but likely will remain hospitalized for weeks.

His illness began as a sore throat that worsened within a week into a widespread infection and caused blood clots in a jugular vein and the lungs. His joints filled with fluid.

Those are the classic markings of Lemierre’s Syndrome— at least as classic as can be with only about 160 cases ever reported. There is no clearinghouse of information on the disease, and it’s unknown what causes it, said Dr. Ban Al-Sayyed, the pediatric infectious disease specialist treating Aimes. But she said experts estimate it occurs in one out of a million people, usually in healthy teenagers and young adults. Lemierre’s was first described by Dr. Andre Lemierre in 1936.

Aimes was Rampart’s band drum major in 2008, when the band took second place in the state, said his friend, Madeleine Miles, 16. He ran track and was president of a swing dance club, all while working for Sonic Drive-In and the Sky Sox.

She said Devon was an especially kind leader as the head of the band, welcoming underclassmen and treating all members fairly. As a friend, she said, he’s an outgoing guy quick to crack a joke but just as eager to help peers through serious problems.

“I think Devon has touched a lot of our lives,” said Miles, recalling a night when she called him upset and he spent hours on the phone listening to her until she could fall asleep.

Miles has organized a fundraiser for Devon and his mother. He has medical insurance through his father, but his mother, with whom he lives, lost her job several months ago. Donations will go toward any expenses not covered by insurance.

The fundraiser picnic will be held from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Ford Frick Park, across from Rampart High School at Lexington Drive and Union Boulevard. People can also send donations to ENT Federal Credit Union to the “Medical Account for Devon Aimes.” For more information, call Madeleine or Karen Miles at 637-1927.

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Call Newsome at 636-0198. Visit the Pikes Peak Health blog at www.pikespeakhealth.freedomblogging.com and the Gazette’s Health page at Gazette.com/health

Thai Beef Pasta Salad goes together quickly, with minimal chopping and mixing. The hardest part may be boiling the pasta. Photo by MCCLATCHY