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LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) - A teacher in Kentucky has died after a long battle with an infection that stemmed from a common cold. Emily Presley's husband confirmed her death to the Lexington Herald-Leader after a nearly two-year battle with the illness and two lung transplants. Presley was a STEM teacher at Wellington Elementary School in Lexington, wife to Jeff, and mother to 13-year-old Jackson and 16-year-old Ella. Presley's celebration of life will be held on Saturday. WKYT reported that up until May of 2022, then-46-year-old Presley was completely healthy until she came down with what she thought was a cold. A few days later, she knew something was really wrong. Within 30 minutes of being admitted to Baptist Health, Presley was put on a ventilator and then into a medically induced coma. Her husband was told she had parainfluenza presenting as bronchitis. That made her immune system crash, and Presley contracted a bacterial staph infection with pneumonia. "It lit her lungs up just like a volcano," her husband said. At that point, the ventilator was useless. Presley was taken to UK Hospital, where an ECMO machine was the only thing keeping her alive for 18 weeks. Then, she was taken to Northwestern in Chicago, where she received a double lung transplant and spent 12 months away from her children. A GoFundMe has been set up to help Presley's family with medical and funeral costs. Copyright 2024 WKYT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.