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American Morning

Sago Mine Survivor Returns Home; Hostage Jill Carroll Released in Iraq

Aired March 30, 2006 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour now, just to recap for you, 28-year-old U.S. journalist Jill Carroll is free. She is safe. She is sound. We've heard a few words from her. She says she was held in relatively speaking good hands, in the sense that she was not harmed physically. Of course, a terrible ordeal over the past three months, and now she anxiously makes her way toward being reunited with her family.
We are watching a couple of things for you. First of all in the next minute or so, we expect to hear from "The Christian Science Monitor," the people for whom Jill Carroll was working at the time of her capture on January 7th.

And also this. We got some live pictures coming in from West Virginia now. We're going to be hearing from -- there's the governor of West Virginia. Let's listen to him for a moment as we wait to see Randal McCloy, the sole survivor of the Sago Mine accident.

GOV. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA: ... the families of all the Sago miners. Gail and I want to thank everyone across the country and around the world for all of their prayers that they sent over these last few difficult months. And I can tell you, we felt each and every one of them. It meant a lot to all of us. As I said the night of January the 3rd, while we didn't get the 13 miracles that we had hoped for, West Virginia does believe in miracles and we surely do. And we did get one miracle, Randal McCloy, and we're so very thankful for that.

Randy's survival and recovery has been an inspiration to all of us, as this amazing devotion -- his wife, Anna, and their entire family have stood stood fastly by them and him. And by him, Anna has made it clear to everyone that she would not return home without him, and he was going to be by her side before she left, and she has not left his side for all this time.

Over the three months of intensive medical treatment and therapy, and Randy is -- unbelievable how he has come through this ordeal. I saw him the first few days when he arrived, and I'd come in on a weekly basis and Gail and I would both visit and it was just unbelievable. So today I'm happy to say that the time has finally come for Randy to return home.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure, my distinct honor, and all of us that have been with this amazing person in the family for all this period of time, now for me to introduce to you Randal McCloy and his wife Anna and their son Randy. I'm going to do one more thing, too, that Randy didn't -- he doesn't know. This is a surprise to him this morning. We're talking about, Randy and I, what's the name of the road you live on? He said, well, it's really not a name to it. He says you kind of go across the tracks, up the hollow. I said, well, let me tell you, as of today, when he goes home, the name is up. It is officially called Miracle Road. That's your road, buddy. Anna.

ANNA MCCLOY, WIFE OF RANDY MCCLOY: Hi. Thank you, Governor Manchin. Governor and Mrs. Manchin, your support throughout this ordeal has been so important to us. I know during the first days after Randy was recovered that having Mrs. Manchin, Gail, there with me helped me so much. Randy and I so glad to be here with you today. It is so important for us to thank everyone who made this possible.

I want to thank our family, our parents, Randy's parents, our siblings, but most importantly, our children, Randel and Isabel, who are so excited to have their father coming home for good. My brother- in-law Rick McGee, who is standing here with us this morning, I owe so much. Rick stayed with us in Morgantown, away from his wife and children, to help me and Randy. He pushed Randy every step of the way in rehab and continues to stand by his side. We would like to thank you.

I especially want to thank our miracle team, from the rescuers in the mine that night to the emergency doctors at St. Joseph's to Dr. Larry Roberts and Dr. Julian Bailes and to the entire staff the West Virginia University Hospitals. Thank you. When Randy was rescued, we weren't sure of our miracle. These doctors made this man well enough to begin his road to recovery and it's truly a miracle. Thank you.

Of course, as well as you see Randy before you today, it is so important for me to thank Dr. Russell Biundo and Dr. Petrick (ph) and John Forester (ph) and the entire staff of Halsaff (ph) Rehab Hospital. Randy has been lucky to have a great team at Halsaff, but we especially want to thank Teresa (ph), Vicki (ph), Amanda (ph) and Tracy (ph) for being here and bringing Randy back.

Our family is glad to be going home. Today is another part of our miracle, just three months after the accident. However, there are 12 families who are in our thoughts and prayers today and every day. The families of Randy's co-workers and friends are celebrating with us today just as we continue to mourn with them. Please keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

RANDY MCCLOY, SURVIVOR OF SAGO MINE DISASTER: Yes, I'd just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers. I believe that's it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for your time.

MANCHIN: I don't know what to say to that. It was so cute. He was saying -- I says Randal, now, how do you describe where you live? He says, you know, Governor, I usually tell them it's across the tracks and up the hollow, turn right and you'll find my house. And I said they're going to have a little easier time now.

Let me just say also as Randal and Anna leave, it's just unbelievable. The thoughts and the prayers of the people really meant so much to them. But of all the families, the Sago families, our Aracoma families, all of our mining families. And I've said this before. You all have been so great. West Virginians are a special breed of people. We have done the heavy lifting and we'll do the -- continue to do the heavy lifting for this country, but it's a special breed of people and I think you just met someone who is very, very special.

You know, it seems only fitting that today is National Doctor's Day, a time for people to show appreciation to the doctors who care for them on their -- and all of their loved ones. In West Virginia we're so blessed to have a team of doctors all around this great state, but most importantly, those who have been part of this miracle, because it really has been a miracle.

And I don't think there's any explanation. I think that they'll be able to explain this to you, because I could -- I would continue to ask from the first day I saw Randal when he was here. And every week I would see these amazing advancements and there was just no medical explanation. And you won't find any three better doctors in the world, I don't believe,, than you'll find right here in Morgantown, West Virginia.

With us today we have the three that have been the entire journey with Randy and Anna. Dr. Larry Roberts, Dr. Julian Bailes and Dr. Russell Biundo. And Randal started his miracle journey himself on January the 3rd. But from that, after we were able to bring Randy out of the mine, the doctors took over from that and continued that journey with him. So with WVU hospitals, with the Mountain View Rehab Hospital, they made sure that the trip was completed. And it has been quite a journey.

So with that, I would like to introduce to you the people that made this journey truly a miracle. And as we stand before you today and as you saw Randal come in, walk in and walk out, it's something none of us would have ever thought we would have seen. It truly is. And an awful lot is owed to these three gentlemen right here and their entire staff. As Anna has said, there were so many people involved.

So I want to present to you Dr. Larry Roberts, Dr. Julian Bailes and Dr. Russell Biundo. Gentlemen.

Dr. Roberts, you want to start? Dr. Belles -- you want to come down, all of you? I'm going to present to the doctor with the signs and everything, because truly, they made it possible. They're going to be able to find out where he lives, too, and be able to go visit.

But this time I would like to introduce to you the three that really spearheaded the staff that made the miracle possible. And Dr. Belles, if you'd like to say -- all of you can say a few words?

DR. JULIAN BAILES, CHIEF OF NEUROSURGERY, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: I'll let Dr. Roberts go. MANCHIN: OK, Dr. Roberts?

DR. LARRY ROBERTS, RUBY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, WEST VIRGINIA: Well, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. It's not often that we as clinicians see the final -- sort of the product of what we've -- of our hard work. All I can say is, as I mentioned as Randy left the hospital, the acute care hospital after his third week, I represent only a small microcosm of all the activities that go on in that hospital, and the multitude of people that contributed to Randy's care.

If you remember, when he arrived at our facility, he had breathing difficulties. He had heart difficulties. He had liver difficulties. He was in a coma, in a deep coma. And pulling together all of the specialists and the resources at our facility and other facilities and getting him through all the health needs that he had, and never to forget the dietary and pharmaceutical support we get from a hospital like ours. All of those things play an integral role, so I'm getting a lot of credit and I thank you for that, but it really represents an incredible effort from a multitude of people.

And this is really the care that we provide all our patients, the consolidation of consultants, the integration of medical care that gets -- that provides the best medical care we can for our patients.

I think Randy is a fantastic success story. He exceed my expectations, my personal expectations, in his recovery, and I owe a debt of gratitude obviously to my two colleagues who are up here sharing the stage with me that played such an integral role in his recovery.

But I will say for the benefit of my colleagues who are not represented up here directly, that we work as a team. We take care of all of our patients in a similar fashion. And this is standard of care medical care that we provided.

But thank you so all of you, and thanks -- oh, and one last thing, the support that Anna has given Randy is phenomenal. Family support is always important. But the contributions she's made from moments after his arrival in our institution, she fundamentally never left his bedside. And I that's remarkable and a testament to the family bond they have. So my thanks to everybody, and I appreciate all the support.

MANCHIN: Thank you. Dr. Julian Bailes.

BAILES: I would certainly echo what Dr. Roberts and Governor Manchin has said. This is part of a unique team that began with the rescuers who risked their life in the mine to get randy out, just in time and everyone from that point on had a big part of his care. As you know, he came in in a very deep coma. He was in liver failure, heart failure, had a collapsed lung. His kidneys were not working. He had to go on dialysis. He was in shock, hypothermic, dehydrated, and about 41 hours in the mine, so it was a tremendous exposure.

After he was resuscitated initially, I think we began to get confidence that he could maybe survive this, and then is became at that point an issue of his brain recovery. As you know, he received three hyperbaric oxygen treatments at Allegheny Hospital in Pittsburgh. I think that was important. He received progressive intensive care here. We begin on DHA, which is an essential fatty acid to rebuild the myelin, the white matter which was lost. And his brain scans kept showing a progressive improvement. And by the second week, and as you may recall, we have announced with great hope that he was awakening from his coma. But we knew he still had a long way to go after that, and we knew that the team had to pull together and it would take all resources. He, fortunately, was strong. He did not have any major setback at all, as he went through this recovery, and many times, patients who are very ill will have a major setback. Pneumonia or other things. And fortunately, he is strong and that didn't happen.

He continued to recover. He continued to awaken. We thought, and the family thought, that they saw important signs of an awakening, of a connection, and that was borne out, so with great pleasure, we were able to transfer him out and continue this progress, as you'll hear about in a minute from Dr. Biundo he has made in rehabilitation.

M. O'BRIEN: As the doctors continue we're going to bring in our own doctor for a little bit of sage wisdom and advice on what's going on. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who's on assignment in Des Moines.

Sanjay, I heard a moment ago, I think it was Governor Manchin said, you know, there's really no medical explanation for his recovery. That probably was overstating it a little bit, but nevertheless, the odds were stacked way against Randy McCloy.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Miles, there's not a lot of data on these sorts of injuries. When you talk about -- I'm sorry, let me just turn this down here. When you talk about these sorts of injuries, carbon monoxide injuries, people actually having injuries of that degree to their brain from carbon monoxide, we don't know how to really treat that ultimately, because we don't have a lot of patience with that. So they were talking about a couple of interesting things uncommonly done. One is the hyperbaric chamber. We talked a lot about this. When there's too much carbon monoxide in the bloodstream, you have to do something actually to force that carbon monoxide out of the bloodstream and put oxygen in, and really a hyperbaric chamber, putting someone into a forced oxygen chamber is the way to do that, and there's not a lot of data.

What I thought was interesting, was they actually talked about this substance DHA, as well, which is basically just sort of a fatty acid, Miles. And the whole idea is that the wiring around your nerves were damaged by the carbon monoxide, and somehow if you can use DHA to allow the body to rebuild that, it's pretty remarkable, and that's something else they tried as well. Medical explanations probably as good as it gets there. He's young. He may not have taken in as much carbon monoxide as some of the other miners because of his lung injury as well. Who knows for sure what exactly happened there? But these are some of the things that may have contributed.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, I'm going to give Sanjay a moment to turn up the volume. Are you back with us?

GUPTA: I'm back, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Here's what I keep asking myself. He was a skinny guy before. He's skinnier now. Is that a coincidence that he's the only one to survive? Does the fact that he's so lean, does that mean you need less oxygen or for whatever reason, the carbon monoxide would have less of an impact on you?

GUPTA: You know, it's interesting. I talked to several of his doctors about this specifically, Miles, and one of the things they told me was two things probably played a huge role, and not so much his weight but his youth. You are able to metabolize things better when you're younger, you're able to get rid of them faster, your liver is in better function for example as well. So a younger person has some advantages.

But I think the whole fact, remember, Miles, when he came out of the mine, one of his lungs was collapsed. And I think that that was significant. Because of the fact his lung was collapsed, he just may not have been breathing in as much carbon monoxide over that period of time, and subsequently had less of a toxic impact on his body overall. It's hard to know. It's hard to know exactly where he was located with respect to the other miners. All of that may have played a role as well. But it is fascinating that obviously he was the only one who survived.

M. O'BRIEN: So it's interesting, the point you bring out then is that in that circumstance, it's better not to be breathing than to be breathing what is air filled with poison.

GUPTA: Absolutely. And this is the whole thing. You know, when you were in a situation of panic, when you're in a situation of increasing oxygen debt, you tend to take in more breaths for sure, and if those breaths, if that air is filled with carbon monoxide, now that obviously can be very devastating. Now with only one lung really working, you know, his breaths had to have been shallower, and again, this is speculative, but again, this is after talking to some of the doctors that were there at the mine that day, went down to West Virginia and talked to some of them. This is sort of their leading hypothesis. This and just the fact that he was also the youngest miner down there as well.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, I'm still curious. He says he doesn't want to talk so much about what happened underground, partly out of deference to the families. He'd like to tell them what happened first, and I think that's very admirable tack to take. I'm still curious if he got some additional air from some of the older miners. Aren't you?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, absolutely. And again, when I was talking to some of the doctors there, there was this whole idea that they had thought that maybe -- he had this collapsed lung, which may have meant he was closer to the actual explosion, which means he may have been actually injured at the time, and therefore, while everyone else was OK, he was actually injured, ironically enough, and so people were giving him their oxygen for a period of time. That's a possibility as well. It's hard to reconstruct. He's the only one who really knows for sure right now.

Let me just say as well, regarding memory, it's interesting, Miles, because randy, there's a good chance he will continue to make gains for 15 more months, for a year and a half total after his injury. That's typical for brain injuries. But as far as memory goes, that's much harder to predict. So the brain sort of reacts two ways. At one point in a situation of great panic, it sort sears those memories into your brain. But you do have a switch at some point where it becomes so much that the brain will actually turn some of those memories off. So despite all the gains that he might make, there is a chance that he just may not remember some of the things that happened down there completely.

M. O'BRIEN: Interesting. He's still is struggling with things like what month it is, what day it is, but all of that I guess will come back, huh?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's interesting, Miles, just watching him walk into the news conference today as well, you probably noticed this as well, he's still obviously a little bit weak. I noticed that that weakness was probably on the right side of his body. He didn't seem to be moving his right arm as much as his left arm, and he also seemed to be favoring his right leg a bit, considering that it may have been weak. That all argues that the left side of his brain probably was more affected than the right side, and that's relevant because it's the left side of your brain that's most responsible for both speech, in terms of being able to execute communication, as well as being able to receive communication. So there is a chance that he still has some, you know, effects from that lingering.

But the good news, I guess the great news, is that he will continue to -- if he's done this well in three months, by 18 months, he should have some absolutely remarkable recovery.

M. O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta, sure is good to have a brain surgeon on staff here. Thank you very much for shedding some light on all of this for us.

GUPTA: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll be back with you as this story progresses. Now to Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Jill Carroll, as we've been telling you all morning, is alive and well. She is free from captivity after nearly three months. We're going to update you on what has happened to her, just ahead this morning. We're going to have a word from "The Christian Science Monitor" in just a few moments after this short break. Stay with us..

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) S. O'BRIEN: Much more on the breaking news that we first brought to you around 6:00 this morning. Tremendous news to share. Jill Carroll is alive and well. She is safe and she is going to be headed back to her family, released not long ago from captivity.

Her employer, "The Christian Science Monitor," held a news conference just minutes ago. Here's a little bit of that new conference. Richard Bergenheim, the editor of "The Christian Science Monitor," speaking. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BERGENHEIM, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": Our hearts are full. We are elated by Jill's safe release. We would like to thank all of the generous people around the world who worked officially or unofficially, especially those who took personal risk to gain Jill's release.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: He's reading a statement from the family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERGENHEIM: We're grateful for the support of the Iraqi people, who have shown the world a deep compassion for Jill's situation and many people in the press in Baghdad as well. Finally, we cannot say enough about the staff at "The Christian Science Monitor" who provided us information and emotional support from the very start of this harrowing experience.

Our priority now, of course, is helping Jill to recover from her ordeal. We ask that the media respect our privacy and desire to focus on Jill's well-being. When we feel the time is appropriate, we will release more details about her experience.

Finally, our thoughts are with the families of others still being held hostage in Iraq and we hope that their loved ones will return safely to them soon. Katie, Jim, Mary Beth and Jill Carroll.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: A statement being read by Richard Bergenheim, who is the editor of "The Christian Science Monitor," of course Jill Carroll's employer as she was in Iraq. The family getting together and writing a statement, and a wonderful statement as opposed to the ones that they were releasing as they were pleading for help from her captors and pleading for any kind of assistance, saying that they are elated, but also of course their thoughts are with all the other hostages who have not been released to their family members yet. A true day of celebration for that family, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it is. And we're happy to be able to tell this news this morning.

Andy Serwer is here. We've been telling you about Apple versus Apple. At the core of that -- eh -- is the iPod.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: You could not resist.

M. O'BRIEN: Sorry, I couldn't resist. But what's interesting is we've been talking about the iPods and the potential damage that it causes to your ear. So there's some new alternatives.

SERWER: Yes, in fact, parental control is what we're talking about here essentially, Miles. You know, there are concerns about the iPod causing hearing loss. And you know, it's because it cranks out sound at up to 115 decibels, which experts say can cause hearing loss. Yesterday, Apple comes out with software to help set volume controls on the nano and video iPod, and you can do that with software, and just lock it down.

Of course, there's a lawsuit you may remember about this, from a man -- filed in Louisiana, saying it caused hearing loss. Francis (ph) says you can't have any device over 100 decibels. So interesting development there. Want to talk about...

M. O'BRIEN: It's interesting, though. Some songs you want to go to 11 on.

SERWER: Yes, do you.

M. O'BRIEN: You know what I mean?

SERWER: That guitar goes to 11.

M. O'BRIEN: Every now and then you want to go to 11.

SERWER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: But anyway, all right...

SERWER: Let's talk about Barry Bonds, shall we? Interesting story here, I think. You know, this is obviously a huge story, controversy. George Mitchell is involved now, investigating steroid use and drug use in Major League baseball. If Barry Bonds passes Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs, Major League baseball has said it will celebrate, but corporate America seems to be backing away from Barry Bonds.

Eighteen national corporate sponsors of Major League Baseball and some of them are saying no mas. They just will not celebrate when Barry gets the record f he does. Bank of America is saying they won't. Home Depot says they won't unless he's cleared, which would be proving a negative. Pepsi said they might do it in a muted way. So interesting.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it would be most important -- it would be interesting to see what fans do. Because, you know, think about it. It was the home run derby, which rescued baseball from the strike. And now that all seems so tainted.

SERWER: I, for one, will not celebrate. M. O'BRIEN: I'm not going to celebrate, either.

SERWER: Nope.

M. O'BRIEN: Henry Aaron is a class act. He did it the real way, the the old-fashioned way.

SERWER: Same with Babe Ruth.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Back with more in a moment. Stay with us.

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