Chicago Cop with Cancer in One Lung, COVID Damage in the Other Gets Successful Double Transplant

Arthur Gillespie had a double lung transplant after nearly four years of struggling with cancer and COVID damage

• Chicago police captain Arthur "Art" Gillespie underwent a successful double lung transplant this year at Northwestern Medicine's Canning Thoracic Institute after being told by other doctors he couldn't be helped

• Gillespie had damage in one lung from COVID, and had two-thirds of his other lung removed following cancer

• A month after his transplant, he was able to go off daily oxygen

A Chicago police captain has successfully had a double lung transplant after one lung was damaged by cancer — and the other was damaged by COVID.

Arthur “Art” Gillespie of Chicago, 56, was diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2020, right when he also contracted a severe case of COVID.

“I lost my dad, uncle and cousin to COVID,” said Gillespie in a statement. “In February 2020, my dad and I went to visit my uncle in a nursing facility and by early March, we were all sick. I was hospitalized for 12 days with a high fever and cough, and during that time, they were taking scans of my lungs, which showed stage 1 lung cancer on my right lung. I had no symptoms of lung cancer, so in a way — because of COVID — we were able to catch the cancer early.”

“I’ve alway tried to be an optimistic person. Glass half-full type of thing,” Gillespie, who worked for 30 years in law enforcement, shared. “And obviously there’s a silver lining: If it wasn’t for the COVID, there’s no telling how long [the cancer would be undetected] because there was no symptoms or signs that was presenting themselves that let me know I was in that condition.”

He underwent chemotherapy and in November of that year, had two-thirds of his right lung removed. Although he planned to return to work as captain at the University of Chicago Police Department, he spent the next three years “going backwards,” he said, in spite of daily physical therapy.

Related: A Leading Cause of Lung Cancer Could Be Hidden in Your Home

“My right remaining lung was damaged from lung cancer, and my left lung was damaged from COVID” said Gillespie, who ended up on daily supplemental oxygen.

After being told he couldn't be helped, Gillespie sought treatment at Northwestern Medicine’s Canning Thoracic Institute in September 2023.

“Even though he looked physically strong, he could barely speak a single sentence without getting short of breath or take a few steps before having to sit down,” Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute, who performed Gillespie’s transplant, said in a statement.

“The pressure inside the lungs had also increased to a point that it was causing heart failure, and his only option for survival was a double-lung transplant.”

However, as Bharat said, Gillespie's health record might have made him ineligible for one at another institution.

“He had two major problems – lung cancer and COVID. Historically, both would be considered non-salvageable for lung transplantation, but we were able to treat both of those conditions with a double-lung transplant procedure,” Bharat said in a statement.

“Despite being told ‘no’ by other doctors, Arthur kept searching for answers. I feel honored that we were able to help him since he spent so many years helping the community as a police captain," said Bharat.

In November, he was put on the transplant list, and on January 6 he underwent a successful double lung transplant.

And a month later, “I watched the Super Bowl with friends,” he shared. “I had my portable oxygen concentrator with me. Didn’t have to use it. Didn’t have to use it the entire time. And it was that point where I was able to disconnect myself from the oxygen. And I haven’t used the oxygen pretty much since then. So that’s a huge, huge, huge difference.”

And as Bharat said, “Arthur is a fighter.”

Related: More Adults Should Be Screened for Lung Cancer Under New Guidelines from the American Cancer Society

“My recovery from the double-lung transplant has been easier than my recovery from lung cancer surgery,” said Gillespie.

“I want my story to serve as a lesson to others — especially those in law enforcement. When you’re a public servant, it’s easy to become distracted with the routine of the job. You’re used to putting others before your own health, but we have to be equally proactive and seek a second opinion when we know something isn’t right.

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