Injured tollway worker returns to work

"When you're in a construction zone, pay attention," said Wayne Pauley of Villa Park while heading home from work Friday.

For two years, Pauley, 43, like his fellow state tollway workers, would watch drivers fly past road crews at far over the 45 mph speed limit.

Then, last December, a driver hit a state truck he was riding in near Naperville.

Pauley, who was working as part of a snow removal crew, and his supervisor stepped out of the truck to talk to the driver who hit the vehicle.

That's when two eastbound drivers on the Reagan Memorial Tollway hit Pauley.

Neither driver stopped.

State police still are investigating; so far, no arrests have been made.

The accidents put Pauley in the hospital for six weeks -- including a month in critical condition, with most of that time in a drug-induced coma.

Pauley's injuries were numerous: four broken ribs, a crushed leg and collapsed lungs.

Doctors had to push his heart and pancreas back into place.

His spleen was removed.

Days after the accident, Pauley's uncle, Frank Clarke, said doctors anticipated it might take a year for his nephew to recover.

Try several months. Pauley returned to work Friday.

"I'm a worker," said Pauley, who been part of construction jobs most of his life.

"There are other positions in the tollway I could apply for, but it's like falling off a horse," he said. "You want to get back on."

But it wasn't easy.

"What I went through brought a lot of trauma on my body," said Pauley, who undergoes physical therapy at Industrial Rehab Alliance in Lombard two or three times a week.

The toll of Pauley's journey back to the job briefly took hold as he shed tears along with his wife, Jackie, at a ceremony Friday.

Pauley's son, Wayne, 16, was in class at Willowbrook High School instead of with his dad. "This isn't important enough to miss school," Pauley said.

Tollway Executive Director Brian McPartlin was among family and friends who officially welcomed Pauley back to work.

"His return is truly amazing," McPartlin said, "truly inspirational."

Pauley said he understands that his ability to withstand two accidents is unusual.

"It's a miracle that I'm here," Pauley said. "A lot of people get hit but they don't survive. I'm glad I'm here to be with my family and watch my kid grow up."