58 hours the Baby Jessica Story begins right now only on cnn. Were following one of the most compelling stories of this year. Were following it from midland, texas we thought that there had been national events before, but we hadnt seen anything like this. Desperate Rescue Effort near Mid Lapd, texas, to save a Little Girl who fell into a well. This was life as it happened in real time and the entire world watched. 18monthold baby. Eighth hour. 12th hour. More than 52 hours now. This effect of everybody together having the same image at the same time jessica. Jessica. But it started back then. It started with this. A little kid fell down a well. Everybody thought four R O five feet, six feet, we can reach down and get heR Out of there. But, you know, it turned out to be very different. But that holes not that big around. I dont even think its 12 inches. Would a dog fall down there, you know, a chihuahua or a small terrier, yeah. But a baby . Last thing that come to your mind. We realized we couldnt just reach down there and get her. Well, then it became we dont know what to do. There wasnt a lot of people. There was a handful of policemen and Fire Paramedic and a smattering of reporters like myself. Baby jessica was the biggest story going on at that time. Live, from midland odessa, 2 news. As we begin our news, a child is in a nightmare trapped inside a water well. We go to rob any wunsch. Shes about 24 feet below ground. They were 18, dropped out of high school, got married. She got a phone calm. The next thing she knew, the children were gathered around and abandoned well. They cooperate really see her, and they wanted to make sure she was still alive. We had a cameraman who had gotten there very quickly and they saw that he had a Shotgun Mic on his camera. They were like can you pick up sound with that . Theyre like yeah. Its ok, its ok. Everybody was what do we do . We had some people worked in the oil well there and said were going to have to dig down to get heR Out. Midland, the openings only eight inches wide, far too small for rescuers to enter. The plan, drilling a wider shaft next to the well and drilling a tunnel to link the two wells. It will be a lengthy process because of the Hard Rock. I went over and told them that one of my hobbies was caving and in kaig sometimes we have to dig. Police officers, officer will you take this young man to his house and get his equipment. Hooked up my harness. They lowered me all the way to the bottom. Then the radio told me i need to come out. I said i cant. I just got started. They said you have been in there almost three hours. You need to come out and rest. They dug the parallel shaft and as they dug the horizontal. It was blunting their jackh jackhammers. Its frustrating. The drill Bits Cant do anything with that rock. Hour after hour after hour and only getting inches at a time. As the suns rays began to disappear Rescue Workers continued to use all their strength to reach here. Good evening, the nightmare is now in its 12th hour. Jessica mcclure appears to be sleeping right now. As we went into the first night, theres still no major media there. Theyve got a Work Light up and theyre pumping warm air so that she doesnt get cold and maybe slip further down. We will break in on the hour with updates and we will break in just as soon as they pull jessica from that 22foot hole. She fell into the well on a wednesday. Thursday morning, we got a call very early. Get to midland. You can visualize it, this is a neighborhood with fenced backyards and in one backyard is where all of this drilling equipment, all the activity youre seeing is located. In the next backyard there is a whole row of ladders because everyone has got their Television Cameras to shoot over the fence and everybodys trying to get a bigger ladder to get a better view down into the hole. I walk out into the alley and theres hundreds of people around. And at that point i realized that things has gone from local news to national and worldwide. [ speaking foreign language ] Jessica Mcclure. Entering the 36th hours. [ speaking foreign language ]. It became more an event. It was like Reality Tv times ten. Shes a young mom and her kids down in a well. She feels all of the pressure, all of the stress, all of the eyes on her. Its just not a scene you see in midland, texas, ever, you know, ever. Midland had suffered in the years before jessica fell down that well. It was the oil bust, the economy was completely trashed. People had lost everything. And this Little Girl fell down this well and all of a sudden, it gave an entire Town Something to rally around. They are west texans, short on money but long on heart. Robert odonnell was a firefighter. Odonnell, O Apost fee he was tall and thin and he could physically get down there in the tunnel. They didnt know what position she was in for quite some time. I believe it was Robert Odonnell. He felt inside the shaft and he could tell theres only one leg dangling. So shes in the shaft with her foot next to her Head Kind of in a scissor position. He needed more room to articulate and get in there. One of the things they would do is drop a microphone down into the well to make sure that she was ok and at times like that, everybody had to be very, very quiet. They could hear she was in there sipping winnie the poo. Winnie the pooh i cried a lot, especially when she was singing. There was a point i kept thinking, i dont know that shes going to make it. Its been so long. Went to the lords house, to prayer, and hope that Little Girls going to make it. Since the ordeal began wednesday morning, there is no talk, we are told, of trying to get any kind of liquids to this girl. Experts with afraid she may have an injury. Unless shes seriously injured she could survive up to four days without any food or water. Time, section, and ok. Tony, were going to follow this story an get right back as soon as theres some movement. Weve also got other major stories. On Wall Street Reporter it used to be we got home at 6 00, 6 30 and turned on the news. Then 24hour News Stations erupted. The first event in the 24hour News World was Baby Jessica falling down a well. Could have been anything but it was this Little Girl. This was beginning of kind of the tear any of the eyeball, the Media Environment in which it was all about hadrias. You werent over there. It was on the tv. You didnt turn it off. In the past, the reporter in the field, particularly a national reporter for the new york times, you thought yourself as the eyes and ears of the paper. Its getting late, nearing my deadline and you couldnt really see inside the hole. It became clear that the only way to see the story was to see the story on television, and im watching the news, and im talking to my editor and of course, theyre watching the same thing on cnn. Just felt like a moment when the journalistic World Hadding changed. Id never reported a story before by watching it on television, and you know, in the future, there would be many, many times when i would. Everybody listen up. Were going from a1 to a8. Stand by. And go. [relaxed summer themed music playing] summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. Savor your summer with lincoln. Does your deodorant keep you fresh all day . We put dove Men Deodorant to the test with nelson, a volunteer that puts care into everything he does. It really protects my skin. Its comfortable and lasts a long time. Dove men, 48h Freshness with triple action moisturizers. Tums vs. Mozzarella stick when heartburn hits, fight back fast with Tums Chewy bites. Fast Heartburn Relief in every bite. 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Its a single stream of water, but when focused, its a very powerful tool. This Water Drill Cuts Rock with water at 30,000 pounds of pressure. When they came to us, to be very honest with you, they made it very, very clear that conventional chipping methods, Mem Methods were not going to work and if we could not remove the rock enough to get heR Out, she probably would not live. The president s back in the White House and he, no doubt, is tuning in to watch this drama unfold. Nancy reagan was in the hospital about to have a biopsy for what would turn out to be B Breast Cancer and she refused to leave until they brought jessica out. I mean, this was huge. Robert odonnell was having a hard time getting in there and maneuvering and having any strength. Thats a lot of what that drill did was to make the horizontal. He was claustrophobic. It was real small. He did something that gave him nightmares for years afterwards. He was very, very concerned about getting heR Out. There was a lot of excitement. She leapt out of her seat. You would almost expect that the child was coming out at any moment. He could not get heR Out. The hole to get her through was not big enough, so it would appear that the Excavation Effort will have to continue. The doctors felt that she had exhausted her time without food and water, and i can remember the doctor telling the two paramedics that they had to get heR Out and the doctor said break her bones. She said break her back if you have to. We can fix that, but get heR Out. The paramedic will be lowered down. Hes armed with Ky Jelly and smearing Ky Around her so he can get heR Out. You can see the cable coming up. Everyones eyes are looking down. Its been 58 hours. Here comes the table, tony. Cable, tony. [ cheers and applause ] you can see the enthusiasm. You could hear the applause as jessica is brought out. The smiles. It has taken a long time. Bless her heart. Shes blinking. Bless her heart. Shes blinking. Exactly. Thank god. 58 hours. I know all of you feel the same way we do. This has been one of the longest 58 hours in our lives. There were bandages on her head and a brace on her leg but this baby looked great. These Hard Rock drillers that had been in that hole, were filthy and cut up on their heads, were sitting there crying. She had cried and sung her way into the lives of the world. The applause for the paramedic who just brought her up. Wed had heroes before, but usually it was a report about something they did yesterday, an hour ago, earlier. It was not something that everybody watched live, and so they all felt they were there. People wanted at him, wanted at all of them. The hours it took to get heR Out, we got heR Out alive. It was all worth it. All around midland there are bumper stickers and scenes of support for jessica and those who worked to save her. It was some of the best news coming out of Mid Lapd memorial hospital since the 18monthold Toddler was brought here a week ago. She may lose the tips of her Big Toe and may need grafts on the foot but the foot is doing well so will not have to be amputated. Letters came addressed to jessica, Mid Lapd, texas. Vice President George Bush dropped in to check on the progress of Jessica Mcclure. Sitting on her mothers shoulders, she watched as the folks of Mid Lapd came out to celebrate her rescue, and celebrate, they did. People stopped Robert Odonnell on the street. They bought him meals. They wanted to fly him to hollywood. He was on oprah. After a short Wagon Ride out, 19monthold Jessica Mcclure did just what folks in Mid Lapd have been praying for. She walked. [ cheers and applause ] and the well she fell in is now capped with the words for jessica with love from all of us. Tone marks, cnn, midland, texas. We constantly create heroes and then we destroy them. We take celebrities and adore them until we dont anymore and then they tear them apart. These days there is no joy in Mid Lapd. I have no rites. Thats the feeling i have. The rights to this case is in a Documentary Drama Version of the rescue. Robert odonnell was a legitimate Bona Fide Hero And Everybody loved him. And then all those cameras went away. These people were heroes until they proved themselves to be human and then people felt they were greedy and fame seeking. It was coming apart at the seams. I think the cameras going away created a cascade of things in Robert Odonnells life. The precipitating event, according to his mother, was the Oklahoma City bombing, the bombing of the federal building. Hed been having flashbacks of going down the well. And hes sitting there watching 24hour Coverage of the rescuers doing what he did. And as hes sitting there watching this he says to his mother those people are going to need a lot of help for a very long time. And that was the night that he took a Shotgun And Shot himself. I wondered if i had succumbed to the limelight, if the same thing might have happened to me. You know, a camera focused on you in the late 80s is vastly different than now. In those days, if you brought a camera to something, it typically wasnt trivial. We were certainly not perfect Gatekeepers Way back when, but now theres no gatekeeper. Theres just the cacophony of a modern media world. And thats very different than back in 1987 where there was v there was something magical in a story being captured by Cable News and transfixing people. On the one hand, it was revolutionary and it was an education in, wow, look at how culture has changed. What we didnt realize was this was just the beginning. Breaking news. God speed. Ive never seen anything like this. Simpson has a gun at his head. Youll see them and hear about them in the media. All of us have a camera in our face all the time. Theres no privacy anymore. Theres no anonymity, and this kind of was the first hint. This yearning that robert had is now everyones