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 Developing Black Lung black lung disease

"It’s just 'miner’s asthma,' El," his father used to say between ragged coughs. "The price of a steady paycheck." But now, standing in his own backyard in