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The smell of ammonia was strong in this hospital outside a mining community. It was full of people with varied ailments related to the local mine. There were victims of falling rocks, runaway mining equipment, and human carelessness. One miner, however, suffered from something much different. He suffered from black lung. Black lung is a disease caused by inhaling too much coal dust. The symptoms of this untreatable disease include dizziness, shortness of breath, and low stamina. This particular miner's name was Bill. Bill had been working in the mines for nearly thirt-five years. He was closing in on his fifty-fifth summer, and probably his last. Only the oldest of the miners fall under the shadow of black lung, usually. It takes many years for enough dust to build up in the lungs to cause any real harm. He was the lone miner in this hospital suffereing from this horrid sickness. Bill had been struggling with this disease for nearly seven years. That's how black lung operates, though. At first you can still function. You can still live a pretty normal, albeit less active, life. Your stamina starts to dwindle, and you find it harder to catch your breath. As the disease progresses, you start having real breathing problems. Most people who suffer from it have to carry an oxygen tank around with a tube going into their nose. Normal life becomes impossible. Anything more than takng the trash out becomes an impossibility. You no longer can do the things you once enjoyed because you do not have the strength. The worst part of all of this is that there is nothing you can do about it. You are a prisoner in your own failing body. Life is more of a hassle than anything else at this point. This point is where Bill had been for nearly four years on this humid summer day.

The scene that I just described to you is not an uncommon one. Thousands of coal miners each year are inflicted with black lung. It is usually always fatal over a large amount of time. There is no cure. The only real prevention to this disease is to stay away from large quantities of coal dust, but for many people in Southwestern Virginia, that feat is impossible. The coal industry is a large part of our economy and it will remain that way for a long time.

Justin Palmer