Black Lung Disease May 2026

The Air Down There: A Miner's Story on Developing Black Lung

"It’s just 'miner’s asthma,' El," his father used to say between ragged coughs. "The price of a steady paycheck." black lung disease

But now, standing in his own backyard in West Virginia, Elias knew the price was much higher. He looked at his grandson, Caden, who was splashing in the creek a few yards away. Elias wanted to join him, to show him how to catch crawdads, but his world had shrunk to the length of a clear plastic tube. He adjusted the oxygen tank in his daypack, the weight of it a constant reminder of the "clamp around his chest". The Air Down There: A Miner's Story on