Sen. Kirk Makes First Live Appearance, Completes Willis Tower Climb

"Where's the beer?"

Those were among the first words uttered by Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk after climbing 37 floors of the Willis Tower. Supporters, like his mother Judy, had been eagerly anticipating his arrival as he popped up in the doorway of the stairwell on the 103rd floor. An entourage including aides and his physical therapist followed behind. It was Kirk's much-anticipated first appearance in front of the public and reporters since suffering a debilitating stroke on January 21st that left him partially physically impaired.

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Kirk was in good spirits, spoke softly and said the experience was "great."

"It was a lot more than the 45 stairs to the senate front door," he joked. He then walked gingerly but without a cane toward the elevator, greeting and making small talk with reporters and observers.

Kirk was one of 2,700 climbers to take part in the annual "Skyrise Chicago" urban climb to raise money for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. He began rehab at the RIC after surgeries to remove brain tissue and part of his skull.

"We've seen some amazing progress from him since when he first joined us," said his physical therapist Mike Klonowski, who noted that the urban climb has been a goal of Kirk's since he started training on step machines a few months back.  Klonowski notes that, in trial runs, Kirk would climb about four flights, take a break, and then resume climbing.

"He wasn't having any of that today," Klonowski says, implying that Kirk did the 37 floors straight through.

Though Kirk climbed a little more than a third of the building, many participants made the full 103 floor trek. One of them was Zac Vawter who appeared to have barely broken a sweat when he arrived and looked out the sky deck window across the city.  The catch: Vawter is an amputee who did it on a state-of-the-art bionic leg.  Vawter now has to return the leg to researchers who are fine tuning it as part of a special $8 million dollar research project funded by the Department of Defense.

A Rehab Institute Spokesperson says Kirk did the climb in about an hour. Kirk later said he'd be back to work in the Senate in January.  While this was Kirk's first live appearance, he has released heavily-edited videos talking about his rehab and supporting Republican congressional candidates Bob Dold and Judy Biggert.

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