Water polo ball temporarily takes out trustee's thumb

Arlington Heights Trustee Joseph Farwell showed up at Monday's village board meeting wearing a cast on his hand.

Farwell told fellow trustees that he broke the thumb when he was hit by a water polo ball while his family was on vacation in Florida over spring break.

"The thumb was bent back a little bit - clearly not the way God made it."

Farwell knew the hand would need attention, but he wanted to wait to see his regular doctors at home. And because he did not want to cut the vacation short for his wife, Nancy, and their three daughters, he applied ice to the damaged finger and held it above his head whenever possible. This routine went on for almost a week before the Farwells returned to Arlington Heights.

"It wasn't that incredibly painful," said the trustee. "We went to the beach and movies and did everything we wanted to do, but I stayed away from the water polo games."

Farwell had surgery at Northwest Community Hospital and is wearing soft casts for about a month.