{"id":1961726,"date":"2023-06-30T17:01:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T21:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/baby-in-the-well-the-rescue-of-baby-jessica-mcclure\/"},"modified":"2023-06-30T17:06:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T21:06:46","slug":"baby-in-the-well-the-rescue-of-baby-jessica-mcclure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/baby-in-the-well-the-rescue-of-baby-jessica-mcclure\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescuing &#8216;Baby Jessica&#8217; McClure from the well."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbaby-in-the-well-the-rescue-of-baby-jessica-mcclure%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1961726&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Jessica McClure: The Miraculous Rescue of Baby Jessica<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jessica McClure was born on March 26, 1986, in Midland, Texas. She may have lived an otherwise normal life were it not for the harrowing events that occurred in October 1987, which earned her international attention as \u201cBaby Jessica.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>The Terrifying Ordeal<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On October 14, 1987, at the age of just 18 months, Jessica was at her aunt\u2019s home in Midland, where she ran a daycare center. Jessica and four other children were playing in the backyard while Jessica\u2019s mother, Cissy, supervised, Biography <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biography.com\/celebrities\/baby-jessica\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Cissy stepped inside briefly to answer a phone call and soon heard the children screaming. She rushed outside but couldn\u2019t find Jessica.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She quickly discovered that Jessica had fallen into an 8-inch wide, 22-foot deep well on the property and was trapped deep below the surface.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The well wasn\u2019t unknown to the family, as Cissy told reporters later that a heavy rock had been used to cover it up to prevent an accident. The question of how Jessica ended up in the well will forever remain a mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jessica would remain trapped in the well 22 feet below ground for the next 58 hours, as rescuers rushed to rescue her. As they worked, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-biden-admin-plans-to-reopen-juvenile-detention-facility-dems-including-kamala-harris-once-accused-of-abuse\/\" title=\"Report: Biden Admin Plans To Reopen Juvenile Detention Facility Dems, Including Kamala Harris, Once Accused Of Abuse\">national media outlets<\/a> such as CNN \u2014 at that time the country\u2019s only 24-hour news network \u2014 picked up the local story, and soon media outlets around the world were tuned in to Baby Jessica\u2019s rescue.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What initially seemed like a simple rescue turned into anything but, as the depth to which Jessica fell meant she was below some of Earth\u2019s rock layers that were harder than granite.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To reach Jessica, rescue crews commissioned a machine typically used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/baby-in-the-well-the-rescue-of-baby-jessica-mcclure\/\" title=\"Rescuing 'Baby Jessica' McClure from the well.\">install large telephone polls<\/a> in the ground and used it to drill a 30-inch wide, 29-foot-deep hole parallel to the well where Jessica was trapped. When that was done, they began drilling through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/memorial-service-held-for-slain-fbi-agent-in-fla\/\" title=\"Memorial service held for slain FBI agent in Fla.\">hard rock<\/a> to create a horizontal tunnel that stretched between the two wells and opened up just two feet below where Jessica had been trapped.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since the whole process took more than two days, rescue workers provided Jessica with oxygen and tried their best to constantly communicate with Jessica, who reportedly moaned and wailed during the rescue. At times, however, she sang nursery rhymes.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>A Miraculous Rescue<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAfter listening to her for so long, I could tell her moods,\u201d one detective who was present at the rescue told Biography. \u201cAt one point she was singing. At another point, when a jackhammer started up, she didn\u2019t say any words but used kind of a huffy little voice. You could tell it was an angry voice. I would say 80 percent of the time she was either crying or making some kind of noise we could hear. When we weren\u2019t calling words of encouragement, we\u2019d tell her to sing for us. I\u2019ll never forget her singing \u2018Winnie the Pooh.&#8217;\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rescue workers kept thinking that she would be freed and brought to the surface at any moment, the Los Angeles Times <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-1987-10-17-mn-3702-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at the time, but the hard rock layer around the well kept presenting problems. Two days after she became stuck, workers broke through the well and inflated two industrial-type balloons in case she fell. Rescue workers used a mirror to see through a hole in the well and managed to see one of Jessica\u2019s legs. Paramedics were sent down and were able to reach Jessica, but they could not free her due to a buildup of leaves and debris that had formed in the well over the years. While one leg was free, the other was pressed against her above her forehead in the tight space and remained stuck.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe still don\u2019t have enough room to get her out,\u201d Police Chief Richard Czech told the media, according to the Times. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to do some more digging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The delay caused more concerns. Jessica had been without food or water for two days, but Czech assured viewers that doctors had said she seemed fit. A more pressing concern, he said, was that doctors worried giving her food or water may cause additional problems if she had internal injuries and needed surgery upon rescue. Doctors also feared that Jessica could choke on the food or water and no one would be able to help her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">By the second day of her rescue, Jessica apparently became irritable, Sgt. Andy Glasscock told the media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI made her mad,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been telling her for the last 20 hours that we were coming down to get her out. I don\u2019t think she believes me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_580035\" style=\"width: 874px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-580035\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Original Caption) Scores of rescue workers try to save baby\u2019s life who fell in well, 10\/15. Rescuers are digging shaft adjacent to well hole to try and reach 18 month old Jessica McClure. Bettmann \/ Getty Images.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>A Joyous Conclusion<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">By then, workers determined they needed to complete more drilling so that they could move better in the tunnel beneath Jessica. A drill that used intense water pressure to cut through the rock was sent from Houston to help speed up the digging.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A roofing contractor named Ron Short offered to help free Jessica without additional digging since he was born without a collarbone and could collapse his shoulders to fit into tight spaces. Rescuers accepted his offer, but his help wasn\u2019t used.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the evening of October 16, 1987, more than two days after Jessica fell into the well, rescuers called for complete silence, leading to speculation that Jessica would soon emerge from the well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Medical equipment such as forceps and lubricating gel were brought to the site, and around 5:30 p.m., a board used to transport the disabled was lowered into the rescue shaft, the Times reported.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was paramedic Robert O\u2019Donnell who managed to squeeze into the tunnel and free Jessica before giving her to another paramedic who brought her out of the ground. That paramedic gave her to another paramedic who took the toddler to a waiting ambulance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doctors who treated Jessica immediately after she was rescued worried they would have to amputate one of her feet, since she had lost blood flow due to it being stuck above her head for 58 hours. To avoid this, they attempted to relieve the swelling by performing a surgery known as fasciotomy, which involves making small cuts to the membranes known as fascia, The Washington Post <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/politics\/1987\/10\/18\/doctors-operate-on-foot-of-girl-freed-from-well\/0d0873ba-b09d-417e-946b-41b409679506\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at the time. She was also treated in a hyperbaric chamber to speed tissue healing. In the end, Jessica only lost a toe, but her right foot had to be reconstructed because it had developed gangrene due to its position in the well, People <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/human-interest\/baby-jessica-30-years-later-my-life-is-a-miracle\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She also has a scar on her forehead from where her head was pressed against the walls of the well while rescue workers drilled.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Baby Jessica\u2019s rescue is reported as the second time the entire country watched day and night as a traumatic event occurred \u2013 the first being the Challenger explosion in 1986.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thousands of people who didn\u2019t know Jessica sent the McClure family cards, flowers, toys, and even money. The money, which totaled more than $1 million, was put into a trust for Jessica to inherit when she turned 25. She collected that money in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The photo of Jessica in the hands of paramedics won Scott Shaw of the Odessa American the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottshawphoto.com\/awards-accolades-and-raves\/pulitzer-prize-winning-photojournalist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1988 Pulitzer Prize<\/a> for Spot News Photography, and her story was turned into a television movie in 1989 called \u201cEverybody\u2019s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These days, Jessica lives a normal life. She married Danny Morales on January 28, 2006, and has two children, Simon and Sheyenne. She works as a special-education teacher\u2019s aide at her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-announces-plans-to-travel-to-uvalde-texas-on-sunday\/\" title=\"Biden Announces Plans To Travel To Uvalde, Texas, On Sunday\">local elementary school<\/a>. Her husband is a foreman at a pipe supply company, People reported.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jessica told the outlet that a lot of the $1.2 million trust fund set up for her after her ordeal was lost to the stock market dive of 2008. She used what remained to purchase the family\u2019s modest home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI think it\u2019s amazing that people would come together like that to donate money to a child that was not theirs,\u201d she told People. \u201cI appreciate everything they did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jessica McClure, born on March 26, 1986, in Midland, Texas, gained global fame as &#8220;Baby Jessica&#8221; after a terrifying incident in October 1987. At only 18 months old, she was trapped in her aunt&#8217;s well, capturing international attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":1961727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1961726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1961726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1961727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1961726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1961726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1961726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}