Yes, Barry - elms can recover from anything. You can even grow out all the branches, and airlayer them off as separate trees, or ground-layer the stump to get brand a new nebari. I have one elm right now on which I have 4 air-layers developing. They only take about two months to get developed enough to separate - and meanwhile the trunk will be popping new buds like crazy. Just chose your new leader and train it for the future of the tree, while letting everything else grow like mad. Keep removing the wild growth to refocus energy on the new leader and you will be there faster than you think. I don't know if you have seen
this thread about a couple of elms I have been working on for the last two and a half years. They are due for new photos - the growth is sprouting out about 6" in all directions now and needs to be wired and trimmed.