A 25-year-old former Ridgewood athlete has been hospitalized for more than a week after contracting COVID-19.

Jack Allard, who played lacrosse at Ridgewood High School and Bates College (Lewiston, Maine) began to experience symptoms on March 13.

He was hospitalized on March 16 and fell into a medically induced coma, according to a report in The Bates Student, a student-run newspaper. He was breathing with the help of a respirator and was waiting for approval to try a potentially life-saving experimental drug.

"The way I understand it is that Jack's body is fighting this virus and the virus really tends to attack the lungs," his mother Genny Allard told Fox News' Martha MacCullum. "That's where his problems are right now, in the lungs."

"Remdesivir has the ability to shut down and kind of slow down the virus so that Jack's body can properly fight it. His doctors say that this is something that can really help him and we're really excited that he might be a candidate for this."

Genny Allard told MacCullum that her son felt fatigued on March 13 and woke up the next day with a high fever and horrible backaches. On March 16, he checked into JFK Medical Center in Edison after becoming weak.

Before then, Allard was in good health and had no underlying medical issues.

"He's the healthiest person I know," Genny Allard said in an interview with Fox. "He's not overweight, he exercises weekly. He was an All-American lacrosse player at Bates and he continues to play lacrosse. I know his lacrosse teammates are out there rooting for him and we thank them for that support."

Allard graduated from Ridgewood High School in 2012 and went out as a state champion in lacrosse. As a senior, he was one of the top midfielders in North Jersey, using his shooting touch and competitive drive to help the Maroons. The 5-foot-10 Allard was not the biggest player, but he figured out how to score from any angle.

"Shock is probably the first word that comes to mind," said Mike Pounds, the head coach of the Ridgewood boys lacrosse team. "It's really shaken this community up. I know my family, our community, our team, we're all thinking about him constantly."

Allard had a successful collegiate career at Bates, as a high-volume scorer and top student. He became one of the program's first two-time All-American by making the Honorable Mention as a junior and senior.

"He's a great kid who wanted to win more than anybody else," Pounds said. "He was a great teammate on a great team."

People above age 60 or with underlying health conditions, such as asthma or diabetes, are considered to be at an increased risk to severe complications. But there have been fatalities involving younger people who have no known underlying health conditions, including former college basketball players Lee Green and David Edwards.