In a profound display of resilience, University of Chicago police captain Arthur Gillespie is now breathing with two new lungs following a groundbreaking double lung transplant—an extraordinary move by medics after his organs were ravaged by both COVID-19 and cancer. The 56-year-old law enforcement veteran made medical history as the first patient at Northwestern Medicine to undergo such a procedure due to this unique combination of illnesses, as reported by CBS Chicago.
Back in March 2020, Gillespie's battle began when he was hospitalized with a severe case of COVID-19 it is during this hospital stay, that doctors scanning his lungs stumbled upon an initially silent adversary, stage 1 lung cancer in his right lung, a diagnosis that, ironically, came to light thanks to the viral infection; he told CBS Chicago, "I had no symptoms of lung cancer, so in a way – because of COVID – we were able to catch the cancer early." After beating COVID, Gillespie's ensuing war with cancer led him to endure chemotherapy and then surgery to remove two-thirds of his right lung in November 2020.
Gillespie faced grueling physical therapy for three years, yet his health waned, necessitating daily supplementary oxygen treatments. His fight led him to Northwestern Medicine in September 2023 where Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern, tackled the high-stakes surgery in January 2024 after noting Gillespie could barely speak or walk without becoming breathless, leading to life-threatening heart failure complications, according to a statement obtained by CBS Chicago.
As Gillespie's new lungs take on their vital role, the captain's strength is reportedly returning incrementally yet impressively each day, as confirmed by WLS Chicago, and while he remains uncertain about his potential return to duty, he is keen on imparting a crucial message to fellow officers on the importance of health vigilance. Gillespie emphasized the necessity of prioritizing one's well-being and not hesitating to seek a second medical opinion, in a narrative echoed by WLS Chicago.
