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

• Chicago Police Capt. Arthur “Art” Gillespie underwent a successful double lung transplant this year at Northwestern Medicine’s Canning Thoracic Institute after other doctors told him he couldn’t be helped
• Gillespie had one lung damaged by COVID and had two-thirds of his other lung removed after the cancer
• One month after the transplant, he was able to stop taking daily oxygen

A Chicago police captain 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, just as he contracted a severe case of COVID.

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

Arthur Gillespie during hospitalization for Covid.

Northwest Medicine

“I’ve always tried to be an optimistic person. Glass half full,” said Gillespie, who has worked in the police force for 30 years. “And obviously there is a good side: if there was no COVID, it is impossible to say how long [the cancer would be undetected] because there were no symptoms or signs to let me know that I was in that condition.”

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

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“My remaining right lung was damaged by lung cancer and my left lung was damaged by 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.

Arthur Gillespie needed oxygen daily.

Northwest Medicine

“Even though he looked physically strong, he could barely say a sentence without getting out of breath or take a few steps before he had to sit down,” said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute, which performed Gillespie’s surgery. transplant, it says in the press release.

“The pressure in his lungs also increased to the point of causing heart failure and his only option for survival was a double lung transplant.”

However, as Bharat said, Gillespie’s medical record could make him ineligible for one at the other facility.

Arthur Gillespie with Dr. Rado Tomić, pulmonologist and medical director of the Lung Transplant Program at Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute.

Northwest Medicine

“He had two big problems – lung cancer and COVID. Historically, both would have been considered unresectable for a lung transplant, but we were able to treat both of these conditions with the double lung transplant procedure,” Bharat said in a statement.

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

He was placed on the transplant list in November, and on January 6 he successfully underwent a double lung transplant.

Arthur Gillespie.

Northwest Medicine

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

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

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

“I want my story to serve as a lesson to others — especially those who work in the police. When you are a civil servant, you are easily distracted by the routine of work. You are used to putting others before your own health, but we need to be just as proactive and seek a second opinion when we know something is wrong. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

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