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'Miracle Miner' Moved For
Treatment
Taken from the CBS/AP Article:
The lone survivor of a coal mine explosion that killed
12 other miners has been moved to a Pittsburgh hospital to undergo oxygen
treatment, West Virginia University hospital officials said Thursday.
Randal McCloy Jr., 26, of Simpson, West Virginia, remained in critical condition
and was transferred to Allegheny General Hospital, said Bill Case, a spokesman
for WVU's Ruby Memorial Hospital.
McCloy was rescued early Wednesday after being trapped in the Sago Mine near
Tallmansville for more than 42 hours. Twelve other miners died. He remained in
critical condition Thursday.
"Mr. McCloy's organ systems have responded fairly well to the treatment he
has received over the last 36 hours," said Dr. Larry Roberts, director of
the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center at Ruby Memorial. "His left lung is no
longer collapsed. But we have not seen the neurological improvement we would
like to see."
Doctors decided to transfer McCloy to Pittsburgh for hyperbaric oxygen
treatment. McCloy's family agreed to the transfer Thursday afternoon.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be used in the treatment of brain injuries. It
helps get oxygen to the body's tissues and can help increase blood cells to
fight infections or promote healing of injuries.
Allegheny's dual-chamber hyperbaric unit — the only type that can accommodate
a patient with a breathing tube — is the closest one to Morgantown, which is
75 miles south of Pittsburgh, WVU said in a news release.
McCloy has been struggling with the effects of oxygen deprivation to his vital
organs, including his brain, and remains in a coma, Dr. John Prescott said
Thursday. Prescott said McCloy's coma is not medically induced and that drugs
initially used to sedate him are wearing off.
"We do believe there has been some injury at this point to the brain,"
Prescott said. "The fact that he is not waking up as we had hoped he would
do, that would be the reason why."
McCloy however somehow managed to respond to his wife, through facial
expressions and squeezing her hand, reports CBS News correspondent Randall
Pinkston.
That gives his family hope.
"As a mother, I'm just — you know, I'm waiting for them to have him to
the point where he's not medicated and I can see him acting like himself and I
can be able to determine in my own mind how he is," said McCloy's mother,
Tambra Flint.
Relatives called McCloy a quiet family man who would likely cringe at his status
as the "miracle miner." They said he did not like working in the mines
but stuck it out for three years because it enabled him to provide for his wife
and two children, 4-year-old Randal III and 1-year-old Isabel.
"I know he was fighting to stay alive for his family because his family was
his No. 1 priority," said Rick McGee, McCloy's brother-in-law and a fellow
miner who lives next door to McCloy in the small town of Simpson about 35 miles
southeast of Morgantown.
He was the youngest of the 13 miners. Most of the others were in their 50s, and
doctors said his youth and health may have helped him survive.
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Click
here to watch clips from Flip This House featuring a hyperbaric chamber
Click here to read article
about Sylvester Stallone and his
use of a hyperbaric chamber
during the filming of ROCKY BALBOA
Click here to see pictures of
Mike Ashley's Racecar with the
Autism Awareness Ribbon
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