(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A 22-year-old Columbia College student was expected to be released from the hospital Monday, almost two weeks after she was hit by the falling facade of a Wicker Park building.
First, Annie Shea Wheeler talked about her injuries and her life ahead. For one thing, Wheeler said, she won’t be able to attend graduation in a few weeks.
“It feels like my whole life just did a somersault. I had a lot going for me, and I still do,” Wheeler said during a Zoom news conference with her attorneys. “But this is extremely unfortunate.”
She showed reporters her shaved, stapled head — her left eye was discolored — and said she was reluctantly returning home to Michigan to recuperate, away from her partner.
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“That’s not ideal,” she said. “I’m being forced to leave the best living situation I’ve ever known.”
Wheeler was struck by falling debris April 6 in the 1200 block of North Milwaukee. Scaffolding was not able to contain all of the stonework that collapsed, officials said.
Her attorneys with Romanucci & Blandin, LLC say Wheeler had a skull fracture and underwent a craniotomy. She developed a brain bleed and had a spinal fluid leak, which required a second surgery, they said.
Wheeler’s attorneys have sued the owners of the property and the owner of the scaffolding company for unspecified damages.
Wheeler said she had arrived in the neighborhood, as usual, April 6 from her Blue Line stop when she was walking past the building.
“The next thing I remember is opening my eyes on the ground and seeing my roommate who happened to be across the street, who was so amazingly helpful and was there for me in that moment,” she told reporters.
The fine arts and graphic design major had hoped to be a print maker and sought post-graduate residencies. The incident, she said, has disrupted those plans.
“I’m feeling very sad. I’m not a defeated person, but this has defeated me, and it’s defeated my goal, and it’s defeated my whole timeline for the next year,” she said.
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