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How the incredible rescue of a toddler trapped down a well captivated the world

Thirty two years ago the world collectively held its breath as a toddler named Jessica McClure was rescued after being trapped down a well in Texas for two days.

For 58 hours rescue teams worked around the clock trying, desperately to rescue the 18-month-old who fell more than six and a half metres down a well, with a narrow opening of just over 20 cms.

US television networks broadcast live the rescue effort capturing the moment when the little girl now known as ‘Baby Jessica’ was pulled to safety on October 16, 1987.

Baby Jessica McClure is rescued from a well in on October 16, 1987
Baby Jessica McClure fell down a well on October 14 1987, it took 58 hours before she was free and the world watched live on tv. Source: Getty/People.com

The story of the ‘baby trapped in a well’ from Texas captured the attention of people everywhere.

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Donations poured in from from people wanting to help pay for Baby Jessica’s medical bills, her story even inspired a TV movie and was told countless times on rescue TV shows.

Baby Jessica grows up

Now 33-years-old, Jessica McClure Morales remembers nothing from the rescue that made headlines worldwide but still treasures newspaper clippings, letters from well-wishers and photos from when the little girl met President Bush, trying on his glasses and giggling.

Ms McClure Morales told People magazine that she didn’t even realise she was ‘Baby Jessica’ until she saw the story on a TV show.

“The first time that I found out I was Baby Jessica, I was four, maybe five years old,” she said.

Baby Jessica McClure meets President George Bush in 1989.
A grown up Jessica McClure (right) doesn't remember meeting President Bush in 1989 (left) when the world knew her as "Baby Jessica McClure". Source: Getty/People

“I used to watch a show called Rescue 911 and I remember thinking ‘oh that’s awful... that must be so horrible for that child’,” Ms McClure Morales said as she watched the episode documenting her rescue unfold.

“I remember being told that was me and breaking down and crying,” she said.

Multiple surgeries needed to save her foot

Ms McClure Morales had spent 58 hours stuck in the well with her foot raised above her head and as a result, her right leg developed gangrene and reconstructive surgery was needed to avoid amputation.

“My right leg was stuck above my head, like a split... they remodelled my entire foot,” Ms McClure Morales told People.

Rescue workers gather to try and save Baby Jessica
It took two days and dozens of rescue workers to save Baby Jessica's life in 1987. Source: Getty

A small scar is barely visible on her forehead and another at the back of her head, souvenirs from her 58-hour ordeal.

“They said I would rest my head forward on the pipe and then rest it backwards on the pipe, and then while they drilled the vibration caused the skin to split open,” Ms McClure Morales said.

Donations funded Jessica’s 15 surgeries

Ms McClure Morales endured 15 surgeries as a child, all paid for by the generosity of the community who had followed her story so closely and raised US$1.2 million which was placed into a trust.

“I think it’s amazing that people would come together like that to donate money to a child that was not theirs,” she told people in 2017.

Baby Jessica McClure Morales with her family in Midland Texas.
Baby Jessica is now married to Danny (left) with their two children, Sheyenne and Simon (right) and lives a humble life in Midland, Texas Source: People

People reported that after the stock market crashed in 2008 the majority of the trust was wiped out but Ms McClure Morales was still able to pay for her education and now works as a special-education teacher's aide at a local school.

She resides in her hometown of Midland, Texas with her husband Danny and their two children Simon, 11, and Sheyenne, 9, in a house bought with her trust.

Ms McClure Morales said that her children are now old enough to have ‘Googled’ their mother’s story but she is determined not to let them live in the shadow of Baby Jessica.

“To me they’re so much more and can be so much more,” she said.

A makeshift memorial to Baby Jessica was set up near the well where she almost died (left) now the well is sealed with a permanent tribute to her (right). Source: Getty
A makeshift memorial to Baby Jessica was set up near the well where she almost died (left), and now the well is sealed with a permanent tribute to her (right). Source: Getty

Returning to the well

Ms McClure Morales said that she is still recognised and referred to as ‘Baby Jessica’ she told People magazine that she is often asked if she ever retuned to the place where she almost died.

The infamous well is now sealed and engraved as a memorial to the toddler who captured the hearts of so many and as an adult, Ms McClure Morales said she has been returned.

“To me it’s a symbol that it could have taken my life but it didn’t,” she said.

Ms McClure Morales told People that seeing the well doesn’t make her sad but instead makes her grateful for what she has now

“It couldn’t cage me then, why should it cage me now,”

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