Remember Jim Mullen? He was the Chicago police officer who responded to a call of gunfire one October night in 1996. In a moment of chaos, a retired security guard shot Mullen in the face, paralyzing him from the neck down.In the six months of hospitalization and rehabilitation that followed, Mullen endured several operations, suffered four heart attacks and several seizures. Metal plates were screwed into his chin and neck. A pacemaker was implanted to regulate his heart.
Readers got to know his resolute wife, Athena, then 33, who brought their infant daughter to his bedside so she could touch her father’s face.That was a long time ago. Mullen was a hero. A cause celebre. He was a major attraction in that year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. When he attended his daughter’s first birthday party, it made headlines. The police started a makeshift register for the scores of people who wanted to help him.
Mullen declared that he wanted to return to the force, against pension and Police Department rules. The department balked and then quickly backed down. He started a new career as a civilian employee of the Police Department, but soon left. He wasn’t strong enough to handle the work load.
After the trial and conviction of Mullen’s assailant, the spotlight moved on. Mullen tried other things. The Jim Mullen Foundation, which provided computers for people with disabilities. That’s shuttered now. As are other business ventures. In December, Mullen was laid off from WBBM-Ch. 2, where he contributed monthly reports on disability news.
Now, though, he’s back, with a new passion: applesauce.
He is selling bottled applesauce from his mother Audre’s recipe. Mullen’s Chicago’s Finest Apple Sauce is on the shelves in Chicago stores, including Happy Foods, Treasure Island and Whole Foods Market. It’s also available via the Web at mullenfoods.com. (A percentage of profits will go to the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which relies on donations to help families of deceased or seriously injured officers.)
Those who work with him say his spirit is “incredible.” That he won’t give up. That there’s “no whiny stuff.” He just plows ahead.
Mullen says he’s just “a regular dude.”
“I’m happy to be alive. I’m happy to be a father, happy to be a husband. I’ve got a lot of things I’m very happy for. Believe this or not, I’m still the same old guy I was before I got shot.”
Some people who read that would shake their heads in disbelief. How could he be the same guy? And could he really be that happy?
Psychologists who study happiness, the most elusive of human emotions, tell us that people are notoriously bad at predicting what will make them happy — or unhappy — for long. In his 2006 book “Stumbling on Happiness,” Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert wrote about the mysteries of resilience. He highlighted studies showing that people who endure major trauma — wars, accidents, disabling injuries — often return to their original level of happiness, or close to it, in time. As do those on the other end of the scale, those blessed with astounding luck, like winning the lottery.
All of that suggests that people come equipped with a happiness thermostat that is very hard to turn way up or way down for very long. That’s good to remember, in good times and bad. Jim Mullen has what makes a lot of people happy — a devoted family and friends, a new business to challenge him.
In so many ways that count, he’s exactly the same guy as before.
