Latest news with #Mihalik
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
Daywatch: Man with asbestosis gets lifesaving lung transplant
Good morning, Chicago. Michael Mihalik had a secret. As he celebrated Christmas with his four children, he thought it was probably his last. So in between the food and presents, he told them elaborate goodbyes in his head. He was suffering from asbestosis, an occupational lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. The condition leads to lung tissue scarring and shortness of breath, which Mihalik knew all too well. By December 2023, he needed 10 liters of supplemental oxygen just to sit — 15 liters for any kind of movement, he said. 'I just gave up on everything. I figured this was my destiny,' said Mihalik, 66, of Kewanna, Indiana. 'It's my time to go home. The Lord wants me. I'll just go home.' But then, by chance during that Christmas trip, he saw an article in a newspaper about a successful lung transplant for an asbestosis patient. He said he bought at least five copies of the newspaper. The information in it led him to doctors at Loyola University Medical Center, where, six months ago, he received a double lung transplant. Now Mihalik wants to share what's possible for the thousands of others diagnosed with the disease, which he came to view as a 'slow death,' especially as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reconsiders the Biden administration's ban on the last type of asbestos used in the United States — chrysotile asbestos, known as 'white' asbestos — to determine whether it went 'beyond what is necessary.' Read the full story from the Tribune's Rebecca Johnson. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including what to know about Gov. JB Pritzker's new running mate, a preview of the NASCAR Street Race before its third and possibly final run and why Illinois loves its roadside monsters. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Republican leaders in the House are sprinting toward a vote today on President Donald Trump's tax and spending cuts package, determined to seize momentum from a hard-fought vote in the Senate while essentially daring members to defy their party's leader and vote against it. President Donald Trump said yesterday that Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and warned Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. Elevating a former top aide with legislative and executive experience — and a life story different from his own — Gov. JB Pritzker yesterday announced Christian Mitchell would be his third term running mate. 'He's a guy who knows how to get big things done, and I've worked with him to get it done, and I'm excited for the people of Illinois to get to know him,' Pritzker said in Peoria. Aldermen tried to send a clear message to Chicago police: Do not cooperate with President Donald Trump's deportation efforts. And several members of the City Council's Immigration Committee left the marathon meeting frustrated, unable to get clear answers about the role of responding officers during a June 4 deportation raid where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents clashed with protesters and several aldermen. The owner of two allegedly fraudulent COVID-19 testing labs linked to a disgraced former executive of Loretto Hospital pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges he was part of a sprawling fraud scheme that siphoned more than $290 million in federal funds for testing that never occurred. While serving as a dean of discipline in the Chicago Public Schools system, Brian Crowder approached a 15-year-old student in the lunchroom at a Little Village school and asked her for her SnapChat username, the woman, now an adult, testified yesterday. Slightly confused, the woman said she gave him the information for her social media account. That led him to start messaging her, she said, before entering into a relationship with her. Flush with salary-cap room, the Chicago Blackhawks looked to land a big fish — or at least a medium-sized one — on the first day of NHL free agency yesterday. What they reeled in was forward Sam Lafferty — again — and former Winnipeg Jets forward Dominic Toninato, 31, who signed a two-year, two-way contract for $850,000. That's it, writes Phil Thompson. The annual NASCAR Chicago Street Race is upon us, and the forecast calls for a 50% chance of thunderstorms and 100% chance of flooding the airwaves with shots of The Bean, the beach, skyscrapers and deep-dish pizza. But as the street race enters its third and possibly final run through Grant Park this July Fourth weekend, it may be time to take stock of a hard to quantify but potentially invaluable benefit: a seemingly endless loop through the Loop on national TV. 'Jurassic World Rebirth' is a genuinely peculiar seesaw, with 'Godzilla' and 'Rogue One' director Gareth Edwards managing some occasionally striking jolts amid a lot of tonal uncertainty, writes Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. Rarely an exuberant spirit as a filmmaker, Edwards here directs a rather mournful script by veteran pro David Koepp, the primary adapting writer on the '93 franchise-starter. 'Illinois is like a wonderland of large things,' said Rolando Pujol, whose dizzying new book, 'The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana,' is an obsessive taxonomy of the vintage fiberglass megafauna (and more) amongst us. 'My Illinois to-see list numbers in the hundreds. But incongruous, anomalous, larger-than-life objects are American DNA, part of our collective self-identity. We develop attachment to large things. They become signposts in our lives.' Midwestern farms provide a bounty of produce in summer and fall, harvesting seasonal fruits and vegetables ranging from asparagus to zucchini. Whatever you're shopping for, here's our map and searchable list of farmers markets in Chicago and the suburbs. No, she isn't green. Well, not her coat anyways. The newest addition to Shedd Aquarium's rescued sea otters officially has a name: Jade. The aquarium revealed the name in a news release after a public vote. Winning over three other handpicked options, 'Jade' pays homage to Jade Cove south of Monterey, California, near where the otter was rescued.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
As EPA reconsiders asbestos ban, Indiana man with asbestosis gets lifesaving lung transplant
Michael Mihalik had a secret. As he celebrated Christmas with his four children, he thought it was probably his last. So in between the food and presents, he told them elaborate goodbyes in his head. He was suffering from asbestosis, an occupational lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. The condition leads to lung tissue scarring and shortness of breath, which Mihalik knew all too well. By December 2023, he needed 10 liters of supplemental oxygen just to sit — 15 liters for any kind of movement, he said. 'I just gave up on everything. I figured this was my destiny,' said Mihalik, 66, of Kewanna, Indiana. 'It's my time to go home. The Lord wants me. I'll just go home.' But then, by chance during that Christmas trip, he saw an article in a newspaper about a successful lung transplant for an asbestosis patient. He said he bought at least five copies of the newspaper. The information in it led him to doctors at Loyola University Medical Center, where, six months ago, he received a double lung transplant. Now Mihalik wants to share what's possible for the thousands of others diagnosed with the disease, which he came to view as a 'slow death,' especially as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reconsiders the Biden administration's ban on the last type of asbestos used in the United States — chrysotile asbestos, known as 'white' asbestos — to determine whether it went 'beyond what is necessary.' 'It's a shame,' said Dr. Robert Cohen, a clinical professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago. 'I'm not an economics person … but it doesn't seem like there's a reason to continue to allow a dangerous material to be used when we can substitute it. It seems like a step backwards.' Asbestos, which is linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually and causes mesothelioma as well as other cancers, has been largely phased out in the United States. Last year, the administration of President Joe Biden sought to finish the decades-long fight by banning chrysotile asbestos. However, the EPA said in a June court filing that it would reconsider the Biden administration's rule over roughly the next 30 months. The EPA didn't respond to a request for comment. Like many diagnosed with asbestosis, Mihalik held various jobs in steel plants and lumber yards in the 1970s and '80s. He remembers, for example, carrying 80-pound bags of asbestos on a furnace floor in Texas and pulling pipes with asbestos gaskets apart at steel mills in Indiana. 'When you would walk out of them places and hit the air, you would start coughing. You would cough up, especially in the foundries, this black, nasty stuff,' Mihalik said. 'And in the steel mills, it usually didn't hit me until when I was lying down to sleep, and then I would start coughing up the stuff. We just thought it was dust. We were totally ignorant of it.' By the 1990s, Mihalik said he already could feel his health taking a turn for the worse, so he shifted to truck driving full time. He remembers getting short of breath frequently, and he eventually carried a nebulizer machine with him in his truck. He later had to fashion a backpack to carry tanks of oxygen and wore a mask just to mow the lawn. After a series of misdiagnoses, including asthma, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he eventually learned he had asbestosis about a decade ago. At that time, he believed he wouldn't qualify for a lung transplant. 'For me, I was relieved (to receive the diagnosis), because then I knew, 'OK, there's no fixing this,'' he said. 'You know, live your life the best you can, and when the Lord's ready for you to go home, I was ready to go.' His wife of 32 years, Darla Mihalik, said her husband's condition — particularly in the year leading up to his lung transplant — was like 'watching a part of you die every day.' It was challenging to see her once active husband struggle to walk to the kitchen. She retired from her job at the post office in 2023 to spend more time with him. 'It's kind of a roller coaster. You spend a lot of time saying, 'No, we can't go there. We can't do this,' because you could get sick,' she said. 'A cold, to him, is not just a cold.' At his clinic at Northwestern Medicine, Cohen treats patients with asbestosis and other occupational lung diseases, although he isn't Mihalik's physician. Asbestosis is scarring in the lung that's caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. There's no way to reverse the scarring, he said. Those most at risk include shipbuilders, insulators, sheet metal workers or others who come in contact with insulation or brake pads made of asbestos, he said. Cohen said he has also seen wives who were exposed by washing their husbands' clothing. If doctors don't ask patients about their work history, he said it's possible to misdiagnose asbestosis. 'I've got some people that have had some pleural scarring and mild disease that do well for a long time, and then others that have had more severe exposures … who can be very, very ill more quickly,' Cohen said. 'It really depends on how severe the scarring is.' Chrysotile asbestos, which is found in products like brake blocks, asbestos diaphragms and sheet gaskets, is less toxic than other types, Cohen said, meaning it has lower rates of asbestosis and lower rates of cancer. However, it is by no means safe, he said. 'It's like having a menthol cigarette or something that's maybe slightly less nicotine, but it still is toxic and it still is carcinogenic, and there's no reason to still have it,' he said. Cohen added that using masks and clothing for protection is 'inferior to just getting rid of the stuff.' Chrysotile asbestos was banned under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was broadened in 2016. When the ban was announced, there were eight U.S. facilities that used asbestos diaphragms in the chlor-alkali sector for the manufacture of chlorine and sodium hydroxide, chemicals commonly used as water disinfectants. The facilities were given at least five years to make the change. Kevin Conway, a personal injury attorney at Cooney & Conway in Chicago, said he's represented dozens of people for decades with mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer. Reversing a ban on chrysotile, the most commonly used type of asbestos, would be a 'real tragedy,' he said. 'The use of asbestos today would be unconscionable,' he said. 'It would be deadly, and it would be horrific in my opinion.' Mihalik, for his part, hasn't heard much about the EPA reconsidering the ban on chrysotile asbestos. But he said it's a shame when money and profits come above human life, particularly in the mining of asbestos overseas. 'We're still using it, but it's not talked about,' he said. 'The dangers of what it does to a man, a human being. The exposure of it, what it does to the human body.' About a year after Mihalik planned to tell his kids goodbye, his doctors at Loyola informed him they found a match, 'divine intervention' when he was at death's door, he said. Mihalik received the double lung transplant on Dec. 7, 2024. 'It was a very long battle, but we got our hope and then we got our blessing,' said Darla Mihalik, who added that she felt 'shocked' and 'blessed' when she learned the news. Before receiving a transplant, patients receive a litany of tests to make sure they're good candidates, said Liz Schramm, a post lung transplant coordinator at Loyola Medicine. Mihalik, for example, was otherwise in relatively good health and had a strong support system at home, she said. 'Once I met Mike in person, he's very charismatic, a very kind person,' she said. 'He asked questions. He made sure he was doing the right thing. They write everything down, and he's a great advocate.' It's fairly common to have a few bumps along the way, especially within the first year after a transplant. She said patients are essentially exchanging one disease for another, and that a transplant requires 'lifelong care and dedication.' Some patients may wait for a transplant for days and others for years depending on their condition, she added. Now, Mihalik is focused on his recovery. He's had some setbacks with adjusting medications, but said he's enjoying having an easier time walking and moving around. He and his wife even got to go out to eat chili dogs. He also plans to write a letter to his lung donor's family to thank them. 'I'm grateful. The Lord has blessed me,' he said. 'I am grateful to be here today, and I'm grateful for the team at Loyola.'
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
One name tops pundits' short list for Ohio lieutenant governor
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio is without a lieutenant governor now that Jon Husted is a U.S. Senator. Husted's appointment to Washington came just two weeks ago, and now Gov. Mike DeWine needs to pick someone to fill the post. '[The lieutenant governor] just has to be ready at a moment's notice if the governor's incapacitated for any reason whatsoever,' Republican strategist Mike Gonidakis said. 'It's a very important constitutional office. However, the direct impact it has on everyday Ohioans' lives is very limited. That's why they seek other opportunities in state government.' How Ohio's next lieutenant governor will be picked While the lieutenant governor does not have many direct constitutional requirements, Gonidakis said whoever is chosen for the job will be able to craft their position. 'In the past, we've seen Lt. Gov. Husted, now senator, he was in charge of workforce development,' Gonidakis said. 'We've seen former lieutenant governors have other cabinet agency positions.' Both Gonidakis and President and CEO of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Derrick R. Clay said there is one person they think is the frontrunner for the job. 'It makes sense if Director [of the Ohio Department of Development] Lydia Mihalik is selected for that role,' Clay said. 'She has been particularly strong for the business community throughout Ohio. If there was anybody that I think could just jump into the job, understand the needs of the business community in Ohio, it would be Director Mihalik.' Dr. Amy Acton, who helped lead Ohio's early pandemic response, joins 2026 governor's race 'I really think it's going to come down to Miss Mihalik,' Gonidakis said. 'The governor sees her as a strong leader, someone that we can all work with and would do a great job for the state of Ohio. I don't believe any current statewide office holder would be on any shortlist, nor do they want it because they have their own paths.' A spokesperson for Mihalik at the Department of Development said they are 'unable to comment on unofficial matters and would refer any additional questions you may have to the Governor's office.' DeWine's office said there is no update about the pending appointment at this time. Clay said he would like to see whoever is appointed, even if it is not Mihalik, take on economic development from day one. 'New initiatives are going to be a little bit more difficult to get off the ground,' he said. 'So, I'm hoping that the lieutenant governor, whoever that person is, comes in and continues the good work that that this administration has been doing for the business community and sets the new administration up for even bigger and better things.' DeWine does get to appoint someone, but his pick will need to be approved by the Ohio House and Senate. Attorney General Dave Yost announces bid for Ohio governor '[DeWine] is not going to put someone up for confirmation that wouldn't be able to get through the House and Senate,' Gonidakis said. 'We have a budget that has to get to the governor's desk by July 1. I don't think [lawmakers] are going to spend a lot of time or capital on this as long as it's a good, solid, proven individual, male or female.' 'We asked the governor, 'Can you run the name or two by us before it gets announced,'' Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. 'Starting off, we would certainly give deference to the governor. But I don't want my members to be surprised, and I ask my members, please don't hold a press conference and say you think you'd be a great lieutenant governor. That would perhaps disrupt the process.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
