Politics

McGrady on crutches for six weeks

By Bill Moss, Published: February 12, 2015

Chuck McGrady might have had reason to predict he'd get hurt on the job — just not this job.

"I'm a camp director for 20 years running everywhere across uneven ground and I never twisted an ankle and I come to Raleigh and now I'm on crutches and in a boot for six weeks," he said.

McGrady was walking out of the Legislative Building Monday night when someone called his name and waved. "Instead of stepping on the sidewalk or the road I stepped on the curb," he said. "Frankly, I thought I had broken something or I was going to have to have surgery."

He spent most of an evening in the emergency room at Wake Med. His ankle was so swollen that that the doctors could not tell whether he had broken it. They splinted it and sent him home. When he went to a doctor on Wednesday, he got better news than he expected.

"Yesterday I saw the orthopedic guy and he said, 'It's not broken, you don't need surgery, you're just going to have a long way coming back from it,'" he said.

Fortunately, he said, it's his left ankle — "not my driving leg" — so he was able to drive home to Hendersonville on Thursday afternoon as usual.

On the political front, McGrady said he was pleased with the work so far.

"The first bill that passed in the Legislature was my eminent domain bill," he said, "and it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support."