Riverside Brookfield Township High School District 208 school board member Bill McCloskey is on the mend after a scary fall from a ladder resulted in a fractured vertebra in his lower back. On Sunday May 27 McCloskey was trimming a branch of a pine tree in the backyard of his Riverside home when he lost his balance and fell off the ladder.
After tumbling some 10 feet, McCloskey landed on his feet with his back absorbing the blow. He then fell forward to the ground but could not get up or move. He was in agony.
“It felt like someone took a sledgehammer to my back,” said McCloskey.
Paramedics were called and McCloskey was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn where he was placed in traction for six hours. Fortunately, the injury did not cause any paralysis but the fracture of his L-3 vertebra kept McCloskey at MacNeal for four days, during which he remained in tremendous pain. He was expected to remain in the hospital for a week.
But showing the toughness and determination that made him an outstanding athlete when he was a student at RB, McCloskey managed to get himself released from MacNeal in time to attend to his daughter Katelyn’s graduation from RB just five days after the accident. Despite being wracked by pain, McCloskey managed to participate in the ceremonies.
As a school board member McCloskey had the privilege of handing his daughter her high school diploma.
“It was painful, but it was manageable,” said McCloskey. “I had to give her that diploma.”
McCloskey now must wear a back brace for four months while his bone heals. He cannot drive, and playing golf and softball, two of his favorite summer time pursuits, is out of the question this year. However, he was back at his job as the vice president of Texor Petroleum on a part-time basis just eight days after his fall.
-Bob Skolnik