I was going to fly from ORD to NYC return, but my plans changed and now I'm in Paris. I am going to book a miles ticket back to NYC, but is there any way to recover the second leg (NYC to ORD) to get home?

I don't have time to fly from Paris to ORD to NYC (I can do direct from Paris to NYC). If I fly back to pick up the original ticket it will take almost an extra day.

I tried to change the ticket, but the change fees are $250+basically the whole cost of the ticket (so about $750).

Do I have to lose the ticket?