COPD and asthma: Similar wheeze, different disease

Chip Gatchell, 68, spent much of his life working in the glass industry. For many years he worked with construction crews, created decorative glasswork, and even developed a photography-based engraving process. “My father had a very good friend who used to do the old hand-wheel engraving on glass, and I became fascinated with it,” he explained. “My process, however, was photo-based, and involved sandblasting, among other things. Later on that became my primary self-employment. I did a lot of work in glass, but primarily in granite and other stone products.” Gatchell also smoked for more than forty years. According to his doctors, the combination of glass dust when he was a child; the sand, dirt, and dust from sandblasting; and the lifelong cigarette habit formed a very nasty combination that led to his being diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).