After recovering from crash, Aurora man reflects on years of spreading cheer
Paul Eggert of Aurora knows a little bit about what makes the Christmas season special.
For years, Eggert has been the man behind a real beard and Santa suit, appearing at places from day care centers and churches to the Banana Split ice cream shop in Aurora in July where a Red Kettle campaign for the Salvation Army is held each summer.
But the season also brings back memories of a terrible vehicle accident that nearly claimed his life.
Dec. 11 marked the three-year anniversary of the crash. On that day in 2017, Eggert said he was on his way to Earlville to his daughter Julia’s house in order to babysit his grandson when his vehicle was hit by a semi-truck.
Eggert, now 70, suffered severe internal and head injuries and was airlifted from the crash site to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, he said. He said he was hospitalized for two weeks and then transferred to Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton for another six weeks.
“I was jammed into the steering wheel and had a lot of internal injuries and there was the need to reconnect a lot of things in my lower abdomen and parts affecting my digestive tract,” Eggert said. “I also had two black eyes and while it wasn’t broke my left arm took the brunt of the impact too.”
Eggert said he suffered atrophy in both legs and literally had to learn to walk again. Staff at Marianjoy also made Eggert “play dominos and do crafts and play cards” in order to help with his manual dexterity.
Upon his release, Eggert said he had to walk with a cane and that it took him about two years to finally “behave as I normally did.”
“At this point, I don’t know if it’s the accident or that I’m 70 now and things with my body are different,” he said.
Eggert’s Santa life can be traced back to the days when his son was in Cub Scouts and the now fully-bearded Eggert was only sporting a mustache.
“At Christmas, the Scouts would have me dress up as Santa and I had a Santa suit that also included a mask that had a beard,” he said. “I also played Santa in Sugar Grove at St. Katharine Drexel Church where they’d have a holiday reception for the kids.”
Banana Split co-owner Lisa Brown fondly recalls meeting Eggert after attending a play where her brother-in-law was performing and she saw Eggert dressed in a robe in his role as a judge.
“He (Eggert) had on these glasses and his beard and I said to my husband Randy, this guy would make a great Santa,” Brown said. “My husband said, ‘What are you going to do – ask him?’ and I stayed around until the end of the play and asked if he’s be willing to play Santa at the summer ice cream event. He actually had this twinkle in his eye and said, ‘Do you want me to bring my suit?’ and I jumped back.”
“It was a March Easter play when I first saw him and he’s been playing Santa ever since,” Brown said. “It’s a blessing he was saved from the accident and even without the Santa role, Paul is such a kind man and his family is just as kind.”
Paul’s daughter Julia Miller, 37, recently posted a reflection on Facebook about her dad’s experience and recovery which she regards “as a miracle.”
“I’ve always seen my dad as a strong man and to see him have to learn to walk again and go through everyday tasks and be so vulnerable was tough,” she said. “In terms of playing Santa – some people were born to do that and my dad has no problem talking to anyone and kids just gravitate to him. I mean, when he’s in a room, everyone looks and just says, ‘There’s Santa!’”
“There were a couple of kids that were kind of ornery and one kicked my shin and grabbed my beard – which, of course, was real – and my whole head turned,” Eggert recalled. “The mother looked at me very apologetically and her son whispered: ‘I think he’s the real Santa Claus.’”
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