CNN To Feature a Movie About the Rescue of Midland’s Baby Jessica
If you were living here back in 1987 when the whole Baby Jessica thing was going on, like me, you remember how all of a sudden Midland was in the national news.
According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, the name of the movie is "58 Hours: The Baby Jessica Story" and tells the story of the harrowing 58 hour ordeal that not only Jessica had to endure but the rest of Midland also.
The documentary will dive into the impact the event had on the city during and after the worldwide media coverage was going on.
The trailer of the film describes the event as one of the first stories that received 24-hour news coverage.
Jessica McClure got stuck in the well while playing with other children in the backyard of her aunt's home daycare center.
She fell 22 feet into the well and rescuers spent two and a half days drilling a parallel shaft next to the well to rescue her.
She was hospitalized for about a month enduring multiple surgeries but has gone on to live a normal life with children of her own and working as a teacher's aide in Midland.
The public donated about $1.2 million that was put in a trust fund that McClure was able to access when she turned 25 but the majority of the money was lost during the 2008 stock market crash and she used the remainder of it to buy a house for her and her family.
The documentary also covers how others involved in the rescue faced numerous challenges after her rescue including one paramedic who took his own life in 1995 reportedly due to PTSD.
The CNN documentary airs this Saturday, July 31, 2021 at 8:00 local time.