"I think his prospects for a full mental recovery are pretty good. I think the prospects for his full physical recovery, particularly on the left side of his body, are not great," Dr. Richard Fessler, a neurosurgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, told reporters at a news conference in Chicago on Monday.
Fessler said it's "way too soon to try and predict" when Kirk might return to work in the Senate. "It's not going to be days," he added.
There was no indication from doctors that Kirk wouldn't be able to eventually carry out his Senate duties, and no talk of him stepping down. Kirk's fellow Illinois senator, Democrat Dick Durbin, issued a statement saying he has reached out to Kirk's staff "and offered to do anything I can to help with his Senate duties."
Kirk won President Barack Obama's former Senate seat in 2010 by presenting himself as part of a new generation of vibrant Republican leaders.
On Saturday, he was hit with a medical event that typically attacks younger victims than those usually felled by strokes.
The ischemic stroke that diminished blood flow to Kirk's brain was caused by a carotid artery dissection, which is a tear in one of the carotid arteries of the neck, doctors said. That condition occurs most frequently in patients in their 50s.
Kirk was a five-term Chicago-area congressman in 2010, when he won what had become one of the nation's highest profile Senate seats. When Obama vacated the seat to become president, it fell to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, to name a replacement. Blagojevich attempted to use that power to garner money or influence, according to the federal jury that later convicted him on corruption charges.
Before his conviction, Blagojevich appointed ex-Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, a Democrat, to the position. Burris served under a cloud and didn't seek re-election. Kirk beat Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, an Obama protégé, to take the seat.
Since then, Kirk has emerged as a respected centrist, often working closely with Durbin. Kirk had been planning to be seated with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., at tonight's presidential State of the Union address — as a show of bipartisan cooperation.
"Senator Manchin and I will kick off 2012 ... (by) inviting both parties to join us in finding common ground on deficit reduction and tax simplification," Kirk said in a statement that was still on his website Monday afternoon.
Jim Nowlan, senior fellow at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs, calls Kirk "the quintessential moderate in the framework of Chuck Percy," the late U.S. senator whose centrist-Republican politics has typified the Illinois GOP for years.
"Kirk sees himself as a leader of the moderates in the future," Nowlan said. "He fills a niche where there aren't many others."
Word of Kirk's condition broke Monday morning. He had checked himself into Lake Forest Hospital on Saturday, complaining of dizziness.
Doctors discovered the carotid artery dissection in the right side of his neck. He was transferred to Northwestern, where further tests revealed that he had suffered an ischemic stroke.
Doctors removed a 4-by-8-inch piece of Kirk's skull to relieve pressure on his brain. He will be in intensive care for at least the next several days.
Fessler, the neurosurgeon, predicted that lasting physical effects could include problems with his left arm and leg. "The use of his left arm is going to be very difficult," Fessler said. "I'm hopeful for the use of his left leg."
As news of Kirk's condition spread, statements wishing him well came from across the political spectrum and around the country. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., called Kirk "one of my closest friends in the Senate" and "a great neighbor."
"Missouri, along with Illinois and the rest of the nation, benefits greatly from Mark Kirk's leadership," Blunt said.
Kirk is a lawyer by training and a commander in the Navy Reserve. He lives in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. He is divorced and has no children.
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