HIGHLAND, Ill. (AP) — A southwestern Illinois mayor severely injured in a fall at his home has returned to work after a recovery that lasted nearly three months.
Sixty-four-year-old Highland Mayor Joe Michaelis broke his neck in the late January accident. The Belleville News-Democrat reports that he returned to City Hall on Monday to a standing ovation in the council chambers, relying on a walker while other city officials followed nearby with a wheelchair.
Michaelis also suffered two fractured vertebrae when he fell down his basement steps in an accident that threatened to prevent him from ever walking again.
He hopes the return to work will aid his continued recovery.
