EAST PEORIA, Ill. – When an East Peoria Police Officer injured in the line of duty showed up at work this week, he didn’t know what he was getting in to — in a good way.
Karson Klyber was struck by an allegedly drunk driver while he was responding to another accident call on the East Peoria side of the Murray Baker Bridge late last year.
This week, he showed up at the annual East Peoria Officers’ Memorial ceremony.
“I just thought I was here to present the flag and cheer everybody on that got awards. And that kind of surprised me,” said Klyber.
Not just any awards. Klyber received the department’s Purple Heart.
He’s gone from having a ten percent chance of walking again, to doing it, though he’s a long way from fully recovered.
“I still don’t have complete feeling from my waist down,” said Klyber. “…I’m trying to teach myself how to walk, how to run, how to balance and how to do all that all over again.
Klyber does rehab exercises about every other day and can feel himself continually improve.
And while he overcame that obstacle, Klyber says he’s not necessarily out to prove people wrong, as much as he is out to “prove [to] everybody that I can do it,” said Klyber. “I’m not going to give up just because there was a small chance (of walking again). I’m not going to give up just because I can walk now. It’s more fine-tuning stuff and being able to conduct work as a police officer again.”
A job, he says he misses, along with the people.
A GoFundMe page for Klyber has netted more than $50,000 among other fundraising efforts since late-December, and he says he doesn’t want to disappoint them, or anyone.
“It just means I can’t let them down,” said Klyber. “I’ve got to do my best to try to make everybody happy and come back.”
