“Feels good to be back,” John Dunning, Wayne State College’s Chief Information Officer said.

Dunning has returned to his position as head of NATS (Network and Technology Services) after recovering from multiple injuries suffered during the Oct. 4 tornado.

Yesterday morning, he held a press conference in Gardner Auditorium attended by several news stations and newspapers from the region.

Dunning used the first few minutes to sincerely thank the City of Wayne and the students of the college for all the support he and his wife had received in the past few months while he was in recovery.

“It has left me a changed person,” Dunning said, recalling the day he was caught in the middle of an EF-4 tornado. “It was surreal.”

The 1994 WSC graduate has never looked happier to be back on campus.

“Thanks to all the folks involved in saving my life,” Dunning said. “You don’t go far in this journey without people helping you.”

He praised the first responders and the nurses in the ICU for their exceptional work nursing him back to good health.

“I didn’t realize how beautiful people are.” Dunning mentioned the selfless cards and messages he got from friends and acquaintances.

“It was a phenomenal blessing,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade it for [anything].”

Even after going through the traumatic situation that he did, Dunning kept an optimistic beat to the press conference with a stunning acceptance of his circumstance.

“It’s not that it happened to me,” Dunning said. “It’s what you’re going to do about it.”