NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Tennessee’s first vaping death has been identified as a Minnesota man.

The young man’s girlfriend told our ABC affiliate, KSTP, that her boyfriend bought the THC cartridges from friends, who told him they were purchased from a dispensary in Colorado.

Cory Smallwood said her boyfriend, Evhen Cameron, used to smoke marijuana with a pipe but switched to vaping. The move to vaping cost Evhen his life.

RELATED: First vaping-related death reported in Nashville

26-year-old Evhen Cameron had just recently moved to Nashville, where he passed away last Sunday.

“It was very quick, very sudden, and very strange,” Smallwood told KSTP.

Smallwood says Evhen was on anxiety medications and smoking weed to offset the side effects. She says he began vaping in July and about three weeks ago, he got sick.

“They were asking him if he ever vaped, have you ever used the vape cartridges? And he said yeah and he was honest about that,” said Smallwood.

Evhen’s last Facebook post came after he left the hospital.

That same night Evhen left the hospital, he went into cardiac arrest.

“He was without a pulse for over a half an hour before they were able to revive him. And he just wasn’t going to wake up from that,” said Smallwood.

The Tennessee Department of Health announced Thursday that vaping-related illnesses had gone up from 49 to 53 cases in the state.

MORE: Vaping illnesses rise in Tennessee, THC products linked to most