Almost exactly a year after visiting with Illinois electric cooperative leaders and then days later suffering a serious stroke, Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk returned to work. Kirk battled back through what he describes as “some of the darkest hours of my life.”
“In an instant my world changed and I faced the prospect of never walking again,” said Kirk. “I’m thrilled to be back representing the people of Illinois and joining with my senior colleague Dick Durbin so the people of Illinois have two hard-working senators constantly advancing the needs of our state. I want to make sure that throughout the state, if some family is going through the sadness of surviving stroke, each patient knows to get up and off that bed. I did and within one year I was able to walk the 45 steps to the Senate. If you or a family member has survived stroke my advice to you is to never ever give up. You will recover.”
