Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton warns against West Nile virus

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- Two years ago, Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton came down with West Nile Virus.

And after surviving a month in a coma and rigorous rehabilitation of a damaged nervous system, he is asking people around the region to be extra vigilant about mosquitoes this summer.

In the village's chambers, Sexton is working on a public service announcement against the virus.

"Whenever you are out, cover up with long sleeves," he said in the announcement. "At one point in time my right hand didn't work, my neck did not work."

Sexton is now in his final set of rehabilitation to fix his neck.

"I'm glad to be here, and I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I went through over the last two years," he said. "So please, be diligent."

Culex mosquitoes found Sexton, 60, in a municipality that has seen its share of West Nile fatalities. The virus left him bedridden for most of 2013, but now he is surrounded by his family, especially his grandchildren, who he said played an instrumental role in his recovery.

"It is wonderful to have my family with me," Sexton said. "They were at the hospital and when my lovely wife Karen brought the grandkids up there, it kind of got me out of bed and got me moving, there's a lot to live for."

Sexton is not the first Chicago-area politician to be struck by the West Nile virus. In 2012, 70-year-old Lombard Village President William Mueller died from its complications. He was also fighting bone marrow cancer at the same time.

Sexton said people must take precautions.

"We're encouraging people to wear long sleeved clothing and to be very proactive when it comes to this, because you don't want to get it, I'm living proof," he said.

"People were very supportive, I mean, he got so many cards and, you know, fruit baskets, it was all wonderful," Sexton's wife Karen said. "They all love him, as they should."

Sexton's daughter Kelly Kelly said the disease taught the mayor about what is really important.

"I think he is even more excited about the little things, the daily things that maybe we forget to be excited about all the time," Kelly Kelly, Jim Sexton's daughter said.

Not all cases of West Nile manifest as severely as that of Sexton's. The City of Chicago said most people who do get infected do not get sick. Some get mild flu-like illnesses, but Sexton's case was rare in that the brain and spinal cord were affected.