Today marks the 25th anniversary of Baby Jessica’s rescue from a well in Midland, Texas. At 26, Jessica McClure is now a stay-at-home mother with two children.
When she was 18-months-old, McClure fell into a 22-foot well at 9:30 am on Wednesday, October 14, 1987, while she was playing with two other children in her family’s backyard. She was stuck in there for 58 hours before rescue workers managed to free her on Friday, October 16. At one point, her right leg had gotten wedged alongside her body in the narrow space, and doctors feared she might choke on the food and drink that had been sent down to her. Her ordeal was turned into a made-for-TV movie on ABC two years later.
McClure became eligible to receive the $800,000 trust fund that had been set up in her name last year. She plans to put the money into a college fund for her two children, Simon and Sheyenne.
McClure married husband Daniel Morales in 2006, and took on his last name. The couple lives less than two miles from where she fell into the well. They run a mobile car and truck washing business out of their home.
McClure said she has no memory of the ordeal, or of the 15 operations she had to undergo after being rescued. She lost a toe due to gangrene and has a scar on her forehead from where she rubbed against the well. She also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, but is otherwise in good health.
Jessica McClure rarely talks about the incident, and in 2002 told Ladies Home Journal that talking about it bored her. She also said she is proud of her scars, because they mean she survived.
Do you remember when Baby Jessica was rescued from the well?
