Jessica McClure
| Jessica McClure Morales | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Jessica McClure March 26, 1986 Midland, Texas, U.S. |
| Known for | Falling into a well at 18 months old |
| Spouse(s) | Daniel Morales |
| Children | 2 |
Jessica McClure Morales (born March 26, 1986, to teenage parents Reba "Cissy" McClure and Lewis "Chip" McClure), became famous at the age of 18 months after she fell into a well in her mom's backyard in Midland, Texas on October 14, 1987. Between that day and October 16, rescuers worked around-the-clock for 58 consecutive hours to free her from the eight-inch (20 cm) well casing 22 feet (6.7 m) below the ground. The story gained worldwide attention (leading to some criticism as a media circus), and later became the subject of a 1989 ABC television movie Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure. As presented in the film, the relatively new technology of waterjet cutting was a vital part of the rescue.
The rescue of McClure proved to be a much more difficult ordeal than was initially anticipated. Within hours of beginning the emergency procedure, the Midland Fire and Police Departments devised a plan that involved drilling an additional shaft parallel to the well and then drilling a perpendicular tunnel from the shaft toward where the child was stuck in the well. Enlisting the help of a variety of local (often out-of-work) oil-drillers, the Midland officials had hoped to free McClure in a matter of minutes. However, the first workers to arrive on the scene found their tools barely adequate in penetrating the thick rock that surrounded the well. It would take approximately six hours to complete the parallel shaft and a substantially longer period of time to drill the tunnel, attributable to the fact that the jackhammers used were developed primarily for drilling downward, as opposed to sideways. A mining engineer was eventually brought in to help supervise and coordinate the rescue effort. Forty-five hours after McClure had fallen into the well, the rescue shaft and tunnel were finally completed.
Ron Short, a muscular roofing contractor who was born without collar bones because of cleidocranial dysostosis and so could collapse his shoulders to work in cramped corners, arrived at the site and offered to go down the shaft. They considered his offer, but did not use it. One report said that he helped to clear tunneling debris away.
Ultimately, Midland Fire Department paramedic Robert O'Donnell was able to inch his way down into the tunnel and wrestle McClure free from the confines of the well, handing her to fellow paramedic Steve Forbes, who carried her up to safety. In a sad twist of fate, 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, committed suicide with a shotgun blast eight years later.
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Wikipedia