Student Injured By Falling Debris From Wicker Park Building Finally Leaving Hospital, But A Long Road To Recovery Awaits 

A 22-year-old woman who was hit in the head by debris from a crumbling building in Wicker Park earlier this month said the incident has derailed her life, causing her to leave Chicago weeks before her college graduation.

Annie Shea Wheeler was walking home the evening of April 6 when she was hit by falling pieces of a vacant building’s facade at 1227 N. Milwaukee Ave. near the Polish Triangle. She was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, police said.

Wheeler, who studies fine art and graphic design at Columbia College, was just weeks from graduation when the life-altering injury derailed her plans, she said Monday at a virtual press conference. Her long path to recovery has delayed her plans to work in the Chicago arts scene, where she hoped to become a printmaker.

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