Posted on 03/30/2006 8:57:29 AM PST by Sax
Sago Mine Blast Survivor Leaves Hospital
POSTED: 10:11 am EST March 30, 2006 UPDATED: 10:49 am EST March 30, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Sago Mine survivor Randal McCloy Jr., looking thin and stiff but walking on his own, offered his gratitude Thursday as he was released from a hospital Thursday after almost three months.
"I'd just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers" McCloy said softly, wearing a ball cap and a racing-team jacket at a morning news conference. He paused, then added with a weak smile, "I believe that's it."
His wife, Anna, who held his hand as they entered the room, added her own thanks. "Today is another part of our miracle," she said. The couple left after their brief statements.
Doctors cannot explain why McCloy, who was trapped for more than 40 hours, survived the carbon monoxide exposure following the Jan. 2 blast, while a dozen other men died.
"There are 12 families who are in our thoughts and prayers today and every day. The families of Randy's co-workers and friends are celebrating with us today just as we continue to mourn with them. Please keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers," Anna McCloy said.
The McCloys were expected to return to their Simpson home later in the morning.
The rural road where they live has been renamed "Miracle Road," Gov. Joe Manchin announced at the news conference.
"Randy is unbelievable how he has come through this ordeal," Manchin said. "Today, I'm happy to say that the time has finally come for Randy to return home."
McCloy told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he had "no explanation of how I escaped it and survived."
"It's just crazy how that ended up being like that."
After the blast, which the mine's owner says was caused by a lightning strike, some people speculated McCloy survived because he was deeper in the mine, farther from the bad air. He said he wasn't.
Nor does he believe a crushed lung limited the carbon monoxide he inhaled. If he'd been in pain, he figures, he'd have inhaled even more.
What McCloy does know is that he's strong and healthy now because of 24-hour support from Anna and his brother-in-law, Rick McGee, who barely left his side over the three months.
"What I believe is that the people who are there for you tend to create a world where you can get better," McCloy said. "It's love, really."
McCloy's memories of the 41 hours underground are "not much really," just fragmented images he'd rather forget. When he thinks of his fallen friends, he pictures them elsewhere.
"I try to leave out all the gory details and stuff like that because I don't like to look at them in that light and that way," he said. "I just like to picture them saved and in heaven, stuff like that.
"That's really the best way you can remember somebody."
Doctors say McCloy was perhaps minutes from death when he was pulled from the coal mine Jan. 4 with kidney, lung, liver and heart damage. He was in a coma for weeks, suffering from severe brain injuries.
McCloy is about 5-foot-10 and thin, down from a normal 160 pounds to just 135. His throat still bears a deep purple mark from a long-since removed feeding tube, but his voice is clear and soft.
He smiles often and seems frustrated only by his limitations, mainly a right arm that remains weak.
"My hands, my grip, is not as good as I want it to be, but I'm going to try to exercise and stuff like that," he said.
Anna is providing an incentive. While he was in therapy, she ordered a present for his 27th birthday on April 14: a red 2006 Ford Mustang to replace the family's Taurus.
"I wanted to give him something to work for," she said, "to make him really want to push himself."
In the pool at HealthSouth Mountainview Regional Rehabilitation Hospital, he does. He tosses a beach ball with a therapist to work on agility and reflexes. He springs from a therapist's cradling arms into an upright posture in one swift motion. He grips the stainless steel parallel bars underwater and pulls his legs to his waist.
When he gets home, he will continue to use weights to help speed up his therapy. He also will return to HealthSouth three days a week, four hours a day, for a few more months.
Someday, he'll start to think about work again. He's considering a vocational school, maybe electronics. He won't be going back underground.
"No, I done learned my lesson," he said. "The hard way."
In a few months, the McCloys will take their first family vacation, a trip to Disney World. For now, though, they're looking forward to peace.
"It'll be a vacation just getting home," said Anna, who will fire up the oven for the first time in three months to make a big pan of lasagna for family members.
Soon, Randal will start working through the thousands of cards and letters he has received - enough to fill a spare bedroom at a relative's house. He also hopes to meet with the families of all the fallen miners in the coming weeks and months.
"It's a delicate situation and it should be handled delicately. It's not something you definitely want to dive right in," he said. "I am going to choose to be careful about what I say and how I word things for the families' sake. I just feel I should show them great respect."
The Lord certainly held Randal McCloy in the palm of His hand.
Wonderful news! He looks healthy in that pic. Miracles still happen... :o)
Photo of Randal McCloy Jr. in #1
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The guy looks like a younger version of one of my buddies. Seems like he's in good shape mentally, I know that was a big concern. I take it from what I read that he's not walking yet, but sounds like he's got support to bring himself back around.
God bless him and his family,
a prayer for those lost.
I heard on Fox News this morning that they are taking him to Disney World. He should like that. Funny how he survived and the rest did not. But I am a firm believer that if it's nor your time to go, you are not.
I sure am happy for him and his family. It's a miracle!
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