Chicago police captain undergoes ‘life-saving’ double lung transplant after lung cancer – diagnosed with Covid-19

A Chicago police captain looks like he’s been reborn.

Arthur “Art” Gillespie, 56, successfully underwent a double lung transplant on January 6, mandatory on account of damage from lung cancer and a severe case of COVID-19. According to People Magazinethe diagnosis of lung cancer coincided with a critical infection with the Covid-19 virus in March 2020, necessitating this life-saving procedure.

“I lost my dad, uncle and cousin to Covid-19,” Gillespie shared in a press release. “In February 2020, my dad and I went to visit my uncle at the care center and at the beginning of March we were all sick. I was hospitalized for 12 days with high fever and cough. At that time, I had lung X-rays done, which showed stage 1 lung cancer on my right lung. I had no symptoms of lung cancer, so in a sense – thanks to Covid – we were able to catch the cancer early.”

Gillespie underwent chemotherapy and in November 2020, two-thirds of his right lung was removed. Despite day by day physical therapy, he found that he “regressed” over the subsequent three years, which thwarted his plans to return to work as a captain on the University of Chicago Police Department.

“My left lung was damaged by Covid-19 and my right lung was damaged by lung cancer,” said Gillespie, who worked in law enforcement for 30 years.

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In September 2023, Gillespie — who ultimately needed day by day supplemental oxygen and was told he couldn’t be helped — tried his luck at Northwestern Medicine’s Canning Thoracic Institute.

Despite the police captain’s outward strength, Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Institute of Thoracic Surgery, said Gillespie could barely speak a sentence without losing his breath or walk greater than a number of steps before he had to take a seat down.

Dr. Bharat noted that Gillespie’s “only option for survival was a double-lung transplant” since the pressure in his lungs had also increased to the purpose of causing heart failure. However, on account of his health history, he may not have been a candidate for surgery at one other institution.

“Arthur is a warrior. He had two main problems – lung cancer and Covid-19,” said Bharat: Northwest medicine reported. “Historically, both conditions would have been considered unsuitable for lung transplantation, but we were able to treat both conditions with a double lung transplant procedure.”

Bharat said that although previous doctors had told Gillespie no, he was still on the lookout for answers. “I feel honored that we were able to help him because he spent so many years helping the community as a police captain,” he added.

A month after Bharat underwent Gillespie’s procedure, the police captain watched the Super Bowl with friends and didn’t must use a transportable oxygen concentrator on a regular basis.

“I actually have all the time tried to be optimistic; “glass half full,” Gillespie said, in accordance with People magazine. “And after all there’s the great side: if it weren’t for the coronavirus, there isn’t any telling how long (the cancer would have been undetected) because there have been no symptoms that might indicate that I used to be on this condition. “