Decades After 'Baby Jessica' Was Rescued From A Well, She Explains Her Unusual Story

decades after baby jessica was rescued from a well she explains her unusual story [Music] story of the girl dubbed baby jessica and her harrowing 58 hours underground is one that has stuck in the public's consciousness for over 30 years even with the saga's happy ending the details that led up to the accident still leave us baffled no longer a baby jessica is finally ready to confront the aftermath of the accident that changed her life her rescuers and the lives of everyone who watched her story unfold all it took was a split second for jessica mcclure's life to change forever the 18 month old was toddling around her aunt's backyard on october 14 1987 when the phone rang her mother turned to answer and in that moment jessica fell the well she tripped into was eight inches in diameter and 22 feet below the ground she was lodged deep into the well casing with one leg stuck high above her head she started to cry a sound that would symbolize one of the defining moments of the 1980s all it took was word of mouth for the story to spread paramedics police and firefighters swarmed the backyard it was a gripping story happening in real time perfect for the six o'clock news as the hours dragged on it was proving itself to be a much more difficult rescue than they originally thought their plan was to drill a shaft parallel to the well and then a right angle across to jessica hit a snag literally the workers found that their tools weren't strong enough to penetrate the hard rock around the well rescue teams had to get creative and fast they pumped oxygen down to jessica as they brainstormed ideas which is when someone floated the idea of water jet cutting a relatively new process at the time water jet cutting meant using a very high pressure jet of water to cut through stone metal and granite the problem was the only thing between jessica and the dangerous water jet was the stone they were in for a nail-biting rescue the only way they knew jessica was still alive was by her singing when she wasn't crying she was singing songs like winnie the pooh along with the people watching on tv and in real life literally overnight she became a media sensation hundreds of donations poured in from all over the country local news stations were inundated with calls from strangers about their own experiences with similar incidents meanwhile the crowd on the ground grew everyone hoping to have a hand in baby jessica's rescue and though numerous people helped save jessica's life it was one paramedic who went down the shaft himself robert o'donnell he inched his way through muck to get to jessica and the image of him holding her aloft finally free ended up winning a pulitzer prize the most harrowing 58 hours of jessica's life were over but the aftermath of the ordeal had only just begun ronald reagan's statement that everybody in america became godmothers and godfathers to jessica throughout the rescue only rang true for so long the fact is all those who watched the rescue eventually left the scene to carry on with their own lives the mcclurs had to deal with the fallout and though there were high points the low points proved to be the most painful the high points were great the family's fame brought them to live with regis and kathy lee and a tv movie was made starring patti duke and beau bridges the family met george h.w bush and about a million dollars in donations were put into a trust fund for jessica the physical effects were another thing entirely after surviving more than two days underground with her foot high above her head jessica was left with more than just a few bruises she lost a toe to gangrene and her entire foot had to be painfully reconstructed a large gash across her face left a scar that stretched from her hairline to the bridge of her nose the only bright side seemed to be her age though the world could never truly forget baby jessica's horrible ordeal jessica herself was too young to remember it at all it wasn't until a few years later when during an episode of rescue911 jessica asked who the little girl trapped in the well was at this point jessica's parents who were only 18 during jessica's accident had endured a long messy and high-profile divorce finding out about her past was like finally finding a missing puzzle piece for jessica now in her 30s with kids of her own jessica is finally ready to share what happened when the cameras left her life for good the term baby jessica is still an everyday thing she told people she underwent 15 surgeries in the years following the accident and though most of her surgeries were paid for by the generous donations from the public the money didn't last forever she started with 1.2 million dollars in a trust fund but the stock market crash of 2008 left jessica with just about 300 000 still the loss hadn't affected jessica as much as you may think as she grew up she saved the money for a few very special reasons when my husband and i first started dating he did not know who i was she explained to people when she finally told him why people always stared at her though everything fell into place about a month into our relationship we were already engaged two kids later jessica and her husband daniel morales were able to buy their first house with the money left over from the trust fund the house is located just two miles from where jessica's life hung in the balance back in 1987. jessica isn't the only one whose life was changed by that ordeal the paramedic who lifted her out of the well robert o'donnell battled post-traumatic stress disorder from the incident and he took his own life in 1995. [Music] nowadays jessica lives a relatively normal life with her family even though she'll never really shake the fame she gained all those years ago and on the 30th anniversary of her rescue jessica visited the notorious well for the first time in years seeing the well for the first time it was hard but it wasn't upsetting she told people after all baby jessica and grown-up jessica are both survivors to me it's a symbol that it could have taken my life but it didn't one of the defining events of the 80s jessica mcclure's 58 hour ordeal was met with support from all over the country it's rare for events to make such a cultural impact but the ones that do are truly unforgettable much like the case of poor kimberly mays in early december 1978 regina twig walked through the maternity ward of hardy memorial hospital pulling her iv behind her the word was empty except for a lone woman holding a baby instead of looking elated at her newborn daughter the woman was on the verge of tears before she could ask her what was wrong however a nurse pulled regina out of the room with just one sentence this is a very sad story decades after that strange moment in the maternity ward she and that sad woman's paths would cross yet again back in 1978 however all regina could do was count her blessings this time the sadness wasn't about her regina and ernest toygue already had five children but when they'd entered the maternity ward that day all they could think about was the sudden death of their daughter vivia from a heart defect a few years before but as it turned out they had no reason to worry mere hours after her birth baby arlena was thriving and breastfeeding like a champ when regina saw arlena the next morning however it was like a light had been dimmed arlena's pink cheeks were blue she had lost ounces of weight overnight and had refused to breastfeed all at once regina's fears came rushing back and this time they were confirmed arlena had a heart defect arlena needed to be monitored for the rest of her life we didn't know from one day to the next are we gonna lose her too arlena's older sister recalled regina was extremely protective of arlena who grew to be a weak but sweet kid mere miles away another family was grappling with their own newborn edition barbara and bob mays were brand new parents but unlike arlena their daughter was a picture of help the maze practically belonged on a greeting card on the outside anyway the reality was that kimberly's birth was long and arduous requiring an unexpected c-section that left both barbara and kimberly worse for the wear after a long recovery process however the family of three finally returned home that is until barbara was diagnosed with cancer two years later kimberly and bob became a family of two bob remarried and kimberly seemed to live a privileged life nothing like little arlena from the other side of town at just nine years old arlena fell into a coma as a result of her disease and died soon after the entire twig family was devastated until the doctor brought them news that left them more shocked than ever before arlena's blood work showed an unusual inconsistency her blood type was b this normally wouldn't be a cause for concern but since both regina and ernest were type o the chances of them having a type b child wasn't just rare it was impossible the genetic tests confirmed it arlena whom they'd raised as their own for almost a decade was not their biological child on top of the grief they felt over arlena's death was a seemingly unanswerable question where was their child little did they know she was right under their noses the twigs soon learned that only two baby girls had been in hardy's hospital maternity ward the week of arlena's birth and after hiring a detective they learned their daughter's name it was kimberly mays the twigs immediately reached out to bob mays not to obtain custody of kimberly but merely to see if she was in fact their biological daughter but bob refused to respond i wouldn't care if they traced her heritage to cabbage patch usa bob mays once told reporters i'm her father i always have been and i always will be ultimately court-ordered genetic tests revealed bob's greatest fear somehow kimberly and arlena had been switched at birth and the media frenzy that followed catapulted each family to national attention instead of demanding answers as to how the switch occurred all anyone cared about were the warring families the twigs vied for visitation rights but bob mays was equally determined that they never set eyes on kimberly regina was villainized for sticking her nose where it didn't belong even though kimberly's home life wasn't what it seemed despite what kimberly told reporters life with bob wasn't all fun and games his ex-wife claimed that he would hit kimberly throw her around if she misbehaved and verbally abuse her the press even caught wind of the abuse but bob's side of the story was that kimberly was his daughter no matter what and that was enough for the press years later it's believed that bob used the press to distract from the question on everyone's mind how did the switch happen back then bob was in total control of the narrative bob mays did not want us to have any connection to kimberly regina twiggs said but bob's wishes weren't to come true a judge eventually granted the twig's visitation rights with kimberly when kimberly was 12 the entire twig family met their long-lost sister and daughter for the first time according to home videos kimberly called regina mom soon after meeting her which was too close to comfort for bob they were total strangers and until we could get this under control it was my opinion that we shouldn't let them have any visitation at all bob told the press in 1993 kimberly had a choice to make to fight bob's wishes or to obey them by then kimberly had made her decision now 14 the girl who had appeared so happy with the twigs suddenly wanted nothing to do with them she not only decided to stop visiting the twigs but to cut all ties with them the most permanent way she knew how kimberly petitioned a state judge for illegal divorce from the twigs kimberly who once called regina mom and was on tape laughing and bonding with her biological family sat before a judge and claimed that she wanted nothing to do with the twigs to get them out of my life i'll do everything i can kimberly told barbara walters in an exclusive 1993 interview her reasoning to make everything the press the judgment and the pressure coming from all sides finally stop during the court proceedings the judge asked kimberly what her greatest fear was in regard to the case being taken away from my father she responded still regina twig was steadfast in her belief that kimberly needed a connection with her biological family if she ever wants to see us again all she has to do is come to our door because we're here and we love her regina told barbara walters in an interview even then regina saw the writing on the courtroom wall eventually the judge declared kimberly legally divorced from the twigs and denied them any visitation rights the divorce seemed to mark the end of the media frenzy surrounding kimberly and her life was expenormal until months later when kimberly was found in the most unlikely of places with the twigs kimberly admitted years later that it was bob's abusive ways that drove her to a ymca shelter and then to the only other safe place she could think of i stayed with the twigs a year and a half to two years almost kimberly revealed she depended on the family she had emancipated herself from for food and shelter but it wasn't always the paradise she hoped for i was never close with regina kimberly said of her experience living with the twigs but i do know she has a good heart still kimberly can't stop wondering about that fateful day in the hospital how did i get switched and why she wonders years later despite the years of media attention no one had ever uncovered the true story behind the switch and it seemed they never would until someone spoke up from the most unexpected place when patsy webb came forward with her own story in 1993 it was from her death bed a former nurse's aide at hardy hospital she claimed she was there the day the babies were switched and that none of it was an accident even before hearing passy's story regina was convinced that dr ernest palmer the longtime chief of hardy hospital had ordered the staff to switch the baby's id bands the reason why goes all the way back to barbara and to her sad story regina speculated that barbara who was desperate for a baby gave birth to a little girl with a heart defect she was told that the baby wouldn't survive into adulthood at the same time regina gave birth to a healthy baby girl dr palmer a close friend of barbara's family allegedly switched the babies in order to spare the maize further heartbreak for years the twigs were the only vocal supporters of this theory until patsy came along dr palmer asked me to switch the bands on the baby and mother patsy revealed she refused to do so but she stayed silent because she didn't want to be fired when patsy's side of the story broke the hospital shrugged her off they claimed that patsy was eccentric and unreliable witness but her family and many reporters connected to the case felt that she was telling the truth which she did her son claims in order to clear her conscience before she died she never asked for money she wasn't seeking any type of notoriety she didn't want that an attorney close to the case said she wanted to tell her story and move on patsy's story could have turned the case into an entirely new direction but because she only did one interview patsy's story never gained much attention and kimberly's own story ended the way it did divorce reconciliation and eventual estrangement from anyone she ever called family nowadays kimberly refuses to live in the past i wish i could turn back the hands of time on a lot of things but i can't kimberly admitted as an adult no one knows what would have been different had the switch never occurred but kimberly finally knows her next step i have to move