Baby Jessica Riveted The World; Convert Your Photos To Digital And Allow Your Story To Live On
She Was Stuck In A Well For 58 Hours But Survived
Remember Baby Jessica, the 18-month-old toddler who fell in an abandoned water well in Midland, Texas?
No doubt millions of people around the globe do. Her image was plastered in countless newspapers and magazines, and on television screens, as people sat riveted by the story, following her through the 58-hour ordeal.
One look at the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo that depicted her rescue – of a rescue worker carrying a bandaged, badly injured baby to safety – and you instantly understand why. Jessica McClure (now Morales) fell down the well in October 1987 and became stuck in a pipe 22 feet down. The incident drew intense media coverage and lives on today on the Internet. It’s a poignant example of why we all should convert photos to digital; it’s a way to share such a global slice of history with generations to come.
Jessica is now married and a mother, but she’s still “Baby Jessica” to many. She went through more than a dozen surgeries and even a partial amputation of a foot after the accident. Her parents, who were teenagers when she was born, are now divorced.
Jessica and her family typically shy away from media attention, but their drama is too well-known to die. And it won’t, when you think of all the old footage and photos that can be preserved. Her life story lives on, since it is now so easy to convert photos to digital.
Jessica has kept the scars from the accident. Robert O’Donnell, the paramedic who rescued her, committed suicide eight years later. A police officer involved in the rescue, William Andrew Glasscock Jr., is now in prison on unrelated charges.
When Jessica turns 25 years old, she will be allowed to collect from a trust fund that may be worth up to $1 million. The money came from public donations, which arrived after she was rescued