Modern Day Romeos’ drummer back after serious injuries when driver crashed car into Crystal Lake restaurant

Mike Zaitz is back to drumming for Modern Day Romeos.

Zaitz was seriously injured in March when a car drove into a restaurant in Crystal Lake where he and his wife Danae were eating.

He has slowly been returning to his usual activities and his day job as a union electrician.

Zaitz pushed Danae out of the way of the oncoming car but took the brunt himself.

“He saved his wife,” nurse Laura Danowski said.

Danowski was one of the nurses who cared for Zaitz in the hospital and got to know his family over the course of his time in the hospital.

Danowski said she had been to a few concerts of Modern Day Romeos, a local band with a large following in the north and northwest suburbs, and like the Zaitz family, lives in Lake in the Hills. She said she didn’t realize Zaitz was the drummer for the band at first.

“I just wanted to take care of him like he was family,” Danowski said.

Danowski saw Zaitz drum at the Huntley Fall Fest recently, and she said it was rare for her to see former patients.

“You never get to see people after they leave,” Danowski said.

Zaitz, in a message to the Northwest Herald, said he could not comment on “details regarding the accident or my recovery.”

Zaitz, alongside his wife, are plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the crash. The lawsuit, filed over the summer, names the restaurant as a defendant.

Bandmate Jim Wojdyla organized a GoFundMe for the Zaitz family after the crash to help pay for medical bills.

Wojdyla said it was “awesome to see” Danowski attend the show.

Wojdyla said that Zaitz still would come to the shows during the summer months even if he couldn’t play in them.

“He’s just an extreme busybody,” Wojdyla said, adding that going to the concerts was a way for the Zaitz family to get some fresh air and get out of the house.

Wojdyla pointed out that the band was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was weird because COVID took so many shows away from us,” Wojdyla said.

Wojdyla said he and his bandmates started Modern Day Romeos “for free beer 21 years ago,” but got a lot of support from the community and fellow musicians in the area.

He added that the band’s sound engineer, Evan Berg, often filled in at drummer this year, but local musicians also filled in while Zaitz was out.

“I would like to say thank you for all the love and support my family and I received during this time,” Zaitz added in his message to the Northwest Herald. “I would also like to wish the others that were affected in the accident our very best and hope they are recovering and healing.”

Wojdyla said that he is grateful for the community’s support.

“It was great the community rallied around us,” Wojdyla said.

The band is scheduled to play at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at The Vixen in McHenry.