A funeral for Hunter Boutain, the 14-year-old who died last week from a brain infection after swimming in a central Minnesota lake, will be held Monday morning.
Boutain died Thursday at a hospital in Minneapolis just days after being exposed to a deadly amoeba while swimming in Lake Minnewaska.
His funeral is scheduled at 11 a.m. Monday at the Holiday Inn in Alexandria.
Boutain had been swimming earlier in the week at Lake Minnewaska, a popular recreation lake near Glenwood and Alexandria.
Health officials believe the teen developed a rare form of meningitis known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is caused by an amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri that is associated with warm, freshwater areas. The infection is considered extremely rare — fewer than 130 deaths have been confirmed nationally since 1962.
"Hunter's condition deteriorated throughout the night and he was declared brain dead this morning," said his uncle, Bryan, last week in a statement provided by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, where the teen had been treated. "Hunter died surrounded by his family."
Boutain had completed eighth grade at Discovery Middle School in Alexandria, where he played in the orchestra and jazz band and helped produce an in-school TV news show.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Hunter Boutain Memorial Fund c/o Glenwood State Bank in Alexandria.
KAREN ZAMORA
![An artist's rendering of the new Southdale Library in Edina. The current building will close in 2025 and the new library will open in 2027.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/GVR2YLZHIJAQ7LMNDSYHMVS6PY.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
New Southdale Library will top $106 million, include Edina Arts Center
BCA: Father, distraught over his baby's death, was armed when Brooklyn Park police shot him
Police seeking masked suspects after ATM was uprooted and emptied in dead of night
![An Orange Line bus pulls up for a media tour in Burnsville's Heart of the City are in December 2021. The city's planning commission gave its OK to a p](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/32N6ZJGEEZEN3AA4GGWVCKXLLY.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
New affordable apartments proposed for Burnsville's Heart of the City
!["How Long Gone" hosts Chris Black, left, and Jason Stewart are bringing the live show of their podcast to the Turf Club in St. Paul on Monday.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/RGAX5KLAS5FEHCK3LPB63IZNV4.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)