Local Actor Returns To The Stage After Losing Leg In Hit And Run
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Police say they still have no leads and no one in custody for a June hit and run which almost killed a Philadelphia actor.
But after an amazing recovery, Michael Toner is back on stage, despite losing his leg.
Watching Michael Toner act, you may never even realize that just seven months ago, he was in intensive care at Jefferson University Hospital, fighting for his life.
"I was walking across the street," he told Eyewitness News.
And that's about all Michael can remember.
Back on June 9, 2015, a car hit him.
The driver sped off and left him for dead late that evening,
"I was in the street they estimated for me for a couple of hours. Found by a homeless person," he said.
By that time, Michael had lost most of the blood in his leg.
"He said I had the shadow of death across my face was how he put it, and that was probably true."
Michael's leg had to be amputated, and the actor who's performed on stage for more than four decades was told he had a very long recovery ahead.
"What I knew already as an actor is your work with the body, your voice and your emotions. Well, I still have vocally, I have my voice. I have my basic set of emotions there over 40 years. I have to work with the body in a new way, but you can still work with a body and do a play as a disabled actor," he explained.
With the help of his physical therapist. a prosthetic leg and a positive attitude, Michael is back on stage, performing at the Walnut Street Theater in Eugene O'Neil's "A Moon for the Misbegotten".
"Where there is a will there is way," Michael said, and that's absolutely the truth for his amazing recovery.
"I really want to live life now as much as I can fully. Because I came so close to this death experience. I consider myself very lucky to be alive."
