The Rescue That Captivated the World: Baby Jessica, the Little Girl in the Well

Parents always want to protect their children. We try our best to shield them from the horrors of the world, the evil that lies within some souls, and the freak accidents that just seem to happen. We try to make our homes the safest place possible for them to be able to learn and grow. Sometimes, disaster finds us regardless of what steps we take.

The Baby in the Well

On the morning of October 14, 1987, 18-month-old Jessica McClure was running around the backyard as carefree as could be. She happily played with the other kids that attended her aunt’s in-home daycare center in Midland, TX. In a split second, her world changed, and she plunged into total darkness, 22-feet below ground. This would be her confinement for the next two and a half days.

Jessica and four other children were being supervised by her mother Cissy, who briefly went inside to take a phone call. As Jessica was running along in the backyard, she fell through an eight-inch opening in the ground and into a well, 22 feet below ground. No one knows exactly how she was able to fall, as the opening had been covered with a large rock.

Cissy heard the children begin screaming and rushed outside. The other children informed her that her daughter had disappeared. She realized that she had fallen down the well shaft and immediately called the police for help.

As first responders arrived on the scene, word quickly spread to the news media. It wasn’t long before the story was being covered live on CNN, which at that time was the only 24-hour news network. The whole world was watching the efforts to rescue Jessica from the well before her time ran out. She became “Baby Jessica” to rescuers and viewers alike.

For the next 58 hours, rescuers worked on freeing Jessica from the 22-foot deep, eight-inch-wide shaft, made of solid rock. They realized at that point that what they thought would be a quick rescue would be a much more demanding task.

They pumped oxygen into the well and lowered down a microphone so that they could communicate with Jessica. They could tell from her moans that she was injured but were encouraged when they heard her singing “Winnie the Pooh”.

With the assistance of oil drillers, rescuers used a large rat-hole rig, which is a machine that is used to plant telephone poles into the ground, to dig a 20-foot deep, 30-inch-wide hole parallel to the well. Using a new technology called waterjet cutting, a mining engineer drilled a horizontal tunnel between the two wells approximately two feet below where Jessica was trapped.

Interestingly, a roofing contractor that was on the scene named Ron Short, volunteered to go down the shaft to pull Jessica out. He was born without collarbones and had the ability to collapse his shoulders to work in confined spaces.

His offer was considered, but paramedic Robert O’Donnell was able to make his way through the tunnel, pull Jessica free, and lift her up to a fellow medic. Jessica was free and taken to the awaiting ambulance.

What Happened to Jessica?

Jessica fully recovered from her ordeal. She does wear a scar on her forehead from where her head rubbed against the side of the well. She also had to have a toe amputated due to gangrene caused by loss of circulation while in the well.

When Jessica fell, she became lodged with one leg extended above her forehead. She underwent 15 surgeries to reconstruct her foot, and to treat the complications caused by three days without food or water.

Jessica has no memories of being trapped inside the well. She actually saw her story featured on the popular television show Rescue 911 when she was five years old and became very emotional when she learned that she was the Jessica they were talking about.

Going on about her life, Jessica graduated from Greenwood High School in Midland in 2004 and married Daniel Morales in 2006. She now has two children of her own, Simon and Sheyenne, and at 37 years old, was last reported to work in landscaping.

Due to the outpouring of support and donations from viewers around the world, Jessica’s medical bills were taken care of, and a trust fund was set up for her to access when she turned 25. In 2011, she announced that she plans to save the $800,000 for her children’s future education.

The photo taken of Jessica as she was carried out of the well won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography taken by Scott Shaw of the Odessa American.

Prior to Jessica’s ordeal, the only other time that an event was covered by the news continuously for 24 hours was after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. Many attribute Jessica’s rescue as being the event that kicked off the 24-hour news media surge.

Unfortunately, eight years after Jessica’s rescue, the paramedic that pulled her out of the shaft, Robert O’Donnell, committed suicide. He too found instant fame and was unable to return to a normal life once the excitement died down.

Only four days before his death, he watched rescuers aid the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing on television.

He told his mother, “When those rescuers are through, they’re going to need lots of help. I don’t mean for a couple of days or weeks, but for years.” It was determined that he suffered from PTSD that had been brought on by Jessica’s rescue.

Over 30 years after her rescue, Jessica admitted,

“Seeing the well for the first time (as an adult) it was hard, but it wasn’t upsetting. To me, it’s a symbol that it could have taken my life but it didn’t. I had God on my side that day.”

The well has been permanently sealed with a memorial that reads, “For Jessica, 10–16–87, with love from all of us.”

***Story originally published on Medium.com by the author***