Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton returns to work
BY STEVE METSCH smetsch@southtownstar.com October 24, 2012 6:08PM
Evergeen Park Mayor Jim Sexton stands on the site of the former Evergreen Country Club and future sight of a Meijer store in Evergreen Park, Illinois, Tuesday, September, 27, 2011. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times Media
Updated: November 26, 2012 7:18AM
Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton is back to work after his serious bout with West Nile virus.
“It’s a terrible thing. I don’t know how or why, but it got me,” he said.
“I was very fortunate to have some wonderful doctors at Christ Hospital. I spent 2-1/2 weeks in the ICU. That was the difference between making it and not making it. My family was incredible. They were with me the whole time,” he said.
West Nile is transmitted by mosquitoes. It can develop into a life-threatening illness that includes inflammation of the brain. Sexton was stricken with the disease over the summer.
In August, West Nile was blamed for the death of Lombard Mayor Bill Mueller, who was also fighting bone-marrow cancer.
Sexton, a normally robust 60, is working in village hall about an hour each day as he regains strength while the recuperation continues.
He’s in his fifth week at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. He no longer needs a walker.
“I’m happy with the progress, I’ve seen some progress in the last week or so. I’m walking by myself now, so it’s coming along,” Sexton said.
Asked for a more extensive interview about his ordeal, Sexton said, “Maybe later. Right now, I’d prefer to not rehash it.”
