It can be hard for us to remember what happened three decades ago, especially if we were kids at that time. What if one had been involved in a traumatic incident? Well, that memory can still fade too. A woman in Texas can second that, and she is none other than Jessica McClure, the toddler who fell into a well.
In 1987, Jessica McClure made headlines when she was 18 months old after falling into an 8-inch well in her aunt’s backyard. She was trapped inside that well for almost 60 hours.
The entire nation was glued to the television as they watched hundreds of rescuers, paramedics, drilling experts, and contractors working to save McClure’s life for more than two days. When they heard her singing “Winnie the Pooh” from inside the well, they had hope in knowing she was still alive.
On Oct. 16, 1987, she was finally rescued after rescuers bought heavy drilling equipment and dug another shaft parallel to the pipe where she was stuck.
After the incident, McClure was famously known as “Baby Jessica.” Although she had no recollection of what happened, some physical scars remained with her.
There is a small scar on her forehead that she got from falling asleep in the well while the drilling was ongoing. Her right foot is smaller than her left since it had to be reconstructed after it became gangrenous from loss of circulation.
Although the scar on her forehead could be removed by a plastic surgeon, McClure chose to keep it.
Now, 32 years after the incident, McClure said she still answers if friends or strangers in her Midland hometown call her “Baby Jessica.” She added that she knows why people are interested in how she survived such a fall.
After McClure was rescued, donations poured in from those who watched the rescue on television.
The money, estimated to be $1.2 million, was put in a trust fund for her, which led some to think McClure is now wealthy. However, she clarified that most of the funds were lost during the stock market crash in 2008, while the remainder was used to buy their family’s house that came with a large backyard for her children.
Now that McClure’s children are old enough to understand what happened to her, she hopes that they can learn something from it, which is “to always be humble” and “to remember that if you look hard enough, there are so many good people in this world.”
