Helen Havlik is ready to make a comeback.

The Petrolia town councilor has been sidelined since August after suffering a stroke. Town council has been holding her seat open while she recovers.

Monday, she was at the town council meeting, not at her regular chair but sitting in the gallery, keeping up with the agenda.

Havlik told The Independent she is feeling much better. “There a few little things that are not kosher yet but I’m trying to get back up to speed,” she says.

Havlik says right now it is still a little difficult to concentrate and sometimes she has to wait a few moments to articulate what she wants to say but she is feeling better every day.

Havlik says her plan is to return to the council table in January. She admits it may be “more difficult than it was” but “I feel obligated to do something for the town,” she says.

The councilor says while she was ill she received “tremendous support”  from the community. “You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve received, there have been letters and comments. It’s been really, really big time support.”

For now, Havlik is being “chauffered” by her son-in-law, Mike Service, but otherwise gets around just fine. And Service says Havlik is improving at a rapid rate. He says sometimes it takes her a while to say what she wants to say but “her cognitive skills are bang on…She has gotten a lot better very quickly.”