A Moment of Distraction
Jessica McClure was 18 months old when she fell into a well in her aunt’s backyard. Her aunt’s home had become a daycare center and her mother, Cissy, was watching her play.
Source: Gary Meulemans/Unsplash
Cissy turned her attention away from Jessica to take a phone call only briefly. However, that was enough time for Jessica to fall into a nearby well on October 14, 1987.
Race Against Time
What followed from that moment was a frantic race against time to save her life and prevent her from experiencing suffocation and limb loss.
Source: Matt C/Unsplash
Over the next 56 hours firemen, police, construction workers, and even mining engineers arrived to work around the clock to rescue her from the well. Local news picked up on the story, which would eventually go on to captivate the nation.
Her Name Is Baby Jessica
As the story spread through the media, she was dubbed “Baby Jessica”, who the nation constantly tuned in for. CNN provided around-the-clock updates for the story, which kept viewer interest high.
Source: Josh Hallet/Wikimedia
At the time, CNN had the only 24-hour news station. CNN’s coverage of the Baby Jessica story delivered the station millions of viewers in a short time. The final hours of her rescue saw nearly 3.1 million concurrent households in America tuned in. (via Texas Monthly)
The Dangers of the Well
The well she fell into was 22 feet deep and 8 inches across. One of the primary concerns for Baby Jessica was her supply of oxygen running out. She was also upside-down, which could create blood flow problems to her extremities.
Source: Call Me Fred/Unsplash
In addition to the complicated rescue effort to free her from the well, rescue teams also had to pump oxygen into the well shaft to ensure she wouldn’t suffocate.
Not an Easy Rescue
The rescue of Baby Jessica proved challenging to the teams because of how delicate the situation was.
Source: Levan Badzgaradze/Unsplash
They had to use what machinery was available to them, including a rat-hole machine originally designed for planting telephone poles. The team first had to drill a deep hole next to the well and dig a parallel tunnel to reach Baby Jessica.
Parallel Problems
The sideways tunnel was one of the most time-consuming and difficult parts of the entire rescue.
Source: Tony L/Unsplash
The jackhammers they used for the project were only designed to drill downwards and were very inefficient at making a sideways tunnel. They planned to tunnel directly below Jessica and go up to get her free from the well’s shaft.
The Rescue Wasn’t the End
Eventually, a paramedic named Robert O’Donnell was able to squeeze his way into the well shaft and free Baby Jessica from where she was pinned. Other paramedics were waiting outside the well to take her to the hospital in the ambulance.
Source: Camilo Jimenez/Unsplash
After examining her, doctors feared they might have to amputate Baby Jessica’s foot due to blood loss. She had been suspended upside-down for a total of 58 and a half hours. Thankfully, only one of her toes needed to be removed in the end.
Impact on the News Cycle
The rescue of Baby Jessica was the second time in television history that so many in America watched live coverage of a news event.
Source: Felicia Buitenwerf/Unsplash
In retrospect, many in the media consider the Baby Jessica story to be the birth of the 24-hour news cycle as the technology and audience both existed for constant new updates. It whet people’s appetites for live news coverage for future events.
Donations Poured In
In the aftermath of the rescue, people across the world started sending cash and gifts to Baby Jessica and her family.
Source: Pixabay/Pexels
The family put the donations in a trust fund for her that she could access once she turned 25. Some of the money went to funding the family’s move to a new house, the start of a tractor rental business, and two new cars.
A Tragic Divorce
Unfortunately, all the media attention around Jessica caused a strain on the relationship of Jessica’s parents.
Source: Engin Akyurt/Unsplash
A little over two years after the rescue, her parents filed for divorce. Her parents had only been 18 years old when Baby Jessica fell down the well and couldn’t handle the publicity. Many details of their divorce were reported by tabloid news publications, which probably didn’t help things.
Baby Jessica Today
Jessica McClure grew up not engaging with the media, only giving a few statements until her adulthood. She is currently 37 years old, and according to her Facebook profile, she works as a landscape laborer. She seems to view the experience today as proof that God was on her side.
Source: Timothy Eberly/Unsplash
“Seeing the well for the first time (as an adult) it was hard, but it wasn’t upsetting,” she told People. “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.”