Posted on 08/16/2020 3:26:44 PM PDT by Shark24
Her name was Jessica McClure, but she will be forever remembered in America's hearts as "Baby Jessica." She was just 18 months old when she fell into the 8-inch well in her aunt's backyard.
For more than two tense days, millions held their collective breath as what happened next became the focus of every media outlet in the country, with Americans watching and waiting to see if the toddler could be saved in time.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
I remember that well. Pardon the pun. It was riveting.
I am glad people have remembered. I ask: Why do we come together when a child or brothers/sisters are in danger (men trapped in mines)? It seems a universal trait that humans will sacrifice to save those in danger even at their own risk. Everyday issues are not the same. Just food for thought. God bless....
I remember this too.
I lived in Midland when that happened. Her mother was a piece of work. All the donated money went to her head and spent money like crazy.
That is sad but in any event, she seems to have done well. God bless her! My point in posting this article was to show that if we were all invested as much in every child as we were in Jessica, God would be happy and the world would be a better place.
I remember Jessica McClure - funny, I thought about her the other day for some reason. I was glued to the tv and cried, along with everyone else, when she was rescued.
I definitely remember it. Had a little one about the same age as Jessica. I was so caught up, but couldn’t just sit there. So I had the TVs going and washed down every wall and scrubbed all the floors in my house during the time waiting for news of the rescue. Cleanest house ever.
“ I lived in Midland when that happened. Her mother was a piece of work. All the donated money went to her head and spent money like crazy.”
Poor kid. Her whole family was a mess.
Who lets a baby wonder around a yard with an open well?
:)
Aftermath
Following McClure’s rescue on October 16, 1987, surgeons had to amputate a toe due to gangrene from loss of circulation while she was in the well. She also has a scar on her forehead where her head rubbed against the well casing. She had 15 surgeries over the years and has no first-hand memory of the event.
Her parents divorced in 1990.
Paramedic Robert O’Donnell, battling posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the arduous rescue effort and struggling to cope with the abrupt decline of the fame and recognition that had been lavished on him following his heroic act, died by suicide in 1995.
In May 2004 McClure graduated from Greenwood High School, in a small community near Midland. On January 28, 2006, she married Daniel Morales at Church of Christ in Notrees, Texas, about 40 miles (64 km) from Midland. They met at a day care center where she worked with his sister. They have two children, a boy born in 2007 and a girl born in 2009.
When McClure turned 25 on March 26, 2011, she received a trust fund of donations worth up to $800,000. Her father, Chip, said she had discussed setting up a trust fund for the college education of her children. It had earlier helped in the purchase of her present home, which is less than 2 miles (3.2 km) from the site of the incident.
A lot of heroes working those 2 days...was a tense couple days.
Was no internet so had to see what happened on the boob tube or listen on the radio.
Thanks. Bittersweet.
“Why do we come together when a child or brothers/sisters are in danger (men trapped in mines)?”
I know there are lots of disasters where we come together in the aftermath of the event - but then it is just another news story.
Being trapped in a well, cave, mine, building, etc. is often a drawn-out process and the media can camp outside the site and it becomes a real-life drama.
Character development of the trapped and the rescuers.
The emotions of the friends and families.
The various twists and turns of the plot. Failures and successes along the way.
I was just thinking of this a few days ago. Thanks for posting. It sounds like she has made the very most of the life that God has given her.
Thanks.
“Was no internet”
That had some pluses.
I think the man who saved her later committed suicide. Am I right?
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