Exclusive | How a California dad is surviving the incurable disease caused by common kitchen item thats killed dozens

A San Fernando Valley stone worker, Enrique Gonzalez, who has been unable to work for the past two years after developing an incurable disease has received a double lung transplant that his family says has put him on a miraculous path to recovery.The disease, silicosis, has increasingly been linked to workers who cut and fabricate engineered quartz countertops, which contain significantly more silica than natural materials such as granite or marble.The number of Californians stricken with silicosis, which scars lungs and severely hamper breathing, has surged in recent years, jumping from 31 cases in 2019 to a staggering 631 as of this week, a study found.Gonzalez, 56, spent years working in granite and stone manufacturing before developing the potentially fatal lung disease.Gonzalez’s family said the disease had made it impossible for him to continue working as his condition worsened, leaving the family struggling to cover medical expenses and everyday costs.His daughter, Edith Gonzalez, 30, exclusively told the California Post that her father’s health had deteriorated dramatically shortly before the transplant he received this summer.“He has recovered really well from the lung transplant.

His body took it really well.He is showing signs of improvement, like right away,” Gonzalez said.

“Before he got his lung transplant, he got really, really bad.Like his condition was very bad, where he got intubated because he couldn’t breathe, even just a little bit.”Thirty-one people have died from the debilitating illness in roughly the past eight years, while 65 have required lung transplants, said the researchers, who analyzed figures between 2019 and this year.There have been 151 cases so far this year — including 40 in the roughly past month alone.The number of cases is likely much higher because many workers go undiagnosed or receive a late diagnosis, the report warned.Nearly all of the victims have been men, with about half of them in Los Angeles Co...