Pat Landes returned to his seat at the Junction City Commission meeting Tuesday night.

Landes has been absent for several weeks due to a personal crisis that involved a life threatening illness.

He thanked the members of the public who reached out to him in cards, prayers and well wishes during his illness. “We have a great community that really reached out with all their thoughts and prayers and helped me pull through my life threatening medical crisis.” He added he is  forever indebted to them.”

Landes discussed the situation that occurred in late March, noting he had suffered a perforation of his colon. “I went into septic shock, where all my organs started shutting down.” The diseased segment of his colon was removed at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka. ” I was on a ventilator in a coma for two weeks before I came out of that.” It took time for Landes to begin to be able to stand up and walk again. it was noted that during the course of his illness he lost approximately 35 pounds, but he is now on the road to recovery and is working to regain his strength and endurance.

That illness occurred just two days after an earlier successful surgery to remove a boney mass, a benign tumor, in the roof of his left orbit in his eye. Landes does not believe the two illnesses were connected.

Landes has not yet returned to his work with the Radiology & Nuclear Medicine Group as Chief Radiologist at Geary Community Hospital, but indicated he may be able to do so one or two days a week this summer.