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Viewers around the world were glued to their televisions on Oct. 16, 1987. You, too, may well remember that day because that is when tiny eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure was rescued after being trapped for 58 hours in an abandoned water well.

The tale of terror began in Midland, Texas, on the morning of Oct. 14. While playing with her friends in the backyard of her aunt’s home day-care center, Jessica fell through the eight-inch opening of an abandoned well. She plunged 22 feet before becoming stuck.

“I didn’t know what to do,” explained Jessica’s mother, Cissy. “I just ran in and called the police. They were there within three minutes, but it felt like a lifetime.”

Over the next two-and-a-half days, the world watched as rescue crews, mining experts and local volunteers labored around the clock to drill a shaft parallel to where McClure was trapped. Then they horizontally tunneled through dense rock to connect the two shafts. Meanwhile a microphone was lowered into the well.

One of the rescuers said, “I called the baby’s name three or four times, but didn’t hear anything. Finally I got a cry in response. We didn’t know how deep she was until we lowered a measuring tape hooked to a flashlight into the well.”

Later they could hear Jessica crying, humming and even singing. Such composure in a child so young was not only incredulous, but also inspirational. “About eighty percent of the time Jessica continued to make sounds that we could hear,” the men reported.

The story of this remarkable child became the focus of every main news outlet in the U.S. as people watched in agony for two days as rescuers attempted to save the toddler.

Then on the night of October 16, a bandaged and dirt-covered, but alert, Baby Jessica was safely pulled out of the well by paramedics. Scores of journalists descended upon the town of Midland, Texas where they captured the rescue on live television before a massive world-wide audience.

After her rescue, Jessica was hospitalized for more than a month. During that time she lost a toe to gangrene. Exuberant well wishers flooded the hospital room with gifts and cards. But the two most special gifts came when Vice President George H.W. Bush visited and President Ronald Reagan telephoned.

Upon her release from the hospital, Jessica went on to lead a rather normal life, spending much of the time out of the public spotlight. Eventually she graduated from high school in 2004 and two years later married and became a mother. At the age of 25, Jessica gained access to a trust fund that had been established following her rescue. It was made up of donations from people around the world and amounted to $800,000.

Unfortunately, drama continued to plague Jessica’s life. Her parents divorced within several years of her accident, the rescue workers feuded over a potential Hollywood movie deal, and in 1995 a paramedic who played a key role in helping to save her life, died by suicide. This tragedy was possibly the result of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Years later her story resulted in a 1989 movie adaptation entitled “Everybody’s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure.” She told People Magazine that even now her story continues to be an everyday thing; that people still associate me with the accident.

The trust fund continued to grow to $1.2 million. It was established by people around the world who followed the rescue. Unfortunately, though, much of it was lost during the stock market crash of 2008.

In 2006, Jessica married Danny Morales. She revealed that she fell instantly in love with him when they first met. The couple remains in rural Texas where they live a quiet life with their two children. Jessica began working as a special education assistant in an elementary school, but has since been employed as a landscape laborer.

As for the accident, she claims she doesn’t remember being rescued. She does, however, bear a few faint reminders following fifteen surgeries. Her right foot, noticeably smaller than her left, required reconstruction after developing gangrene from being held above her head for the duration of the time she was in the well. Additionally, a barely visible scar was left on her forehead as a result of being pressed up against the wall of the well where she fell asleep. Although the incident remains a part of her life, it doesn’t define her.

“It hasn’t affected me in the way that it affected other people. I lived it, but I didn’t watch it,” she says. On a happy note, Jessica’s family stays in touch with the family of Steve Forbes, the paramedic who was famously photographed carrying her out of the well.