Updated: 1:29 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2006 MORGANTOWN, West Va. - Sago Mine survivor Randal McCloy Jr. is breathing on his own and appears to be coming out of his coma, more than two weeks after a mine explosion that led to the deaths of 12 other miners, doctors said Wednesday.
“With great hope we announce that Randy McCloy is awakening from his coma,” said Dr. Julian Bailes, a neurosurgeon at West Virginia University’s Ruby Memorial Hospital. “We consider him, probably best described, in a light coma.”
He said McCloy moves his arms and legs, he opens his eyes when doctors call his name and the family believes “he has some level of connectivity with them.”
However, the 26-year-old McCloy has a long way to go, Bailes said.
“In many ways, we are in uncharted territory in predicting his recovery,” Bailes said. “The longterm outlook will be measured in weeks and months, and not days.”
Doctors hope to be able to move McCloy to a rehabilitation hospital within two weeks, said Dr. Larry Roberts.
Responding to family members McCloy, who was pulled from the Sago Mine more than 41 hours after the Jan. 2 explosion, is “opening his eyes, he has purposeful movement, he is responding to his family in slight ways,” Bailes said. He said McCloy is also exhibiting facial movement and his brain stem function remains normal.
The blast itself is believed to have killed one miner immediately, and state officials have said the others died of carbon monoxide poisoning. McCloy may have suffered brain damage from his exposure to the gas, but the extent of the damage won’t be known until he regains consciousness.
Doctors moved McCloy out of intensive care Tuesday and said his heart and liver functions are recovering slowly, but he remains on dialysis because of kidney damage. McCloy, of Simpson, has been breathing without assistance for several days.
Officials investigating the blast are interviewing a series of witnesses.
The interviews are being conducted in private by officials from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training.
Representatives of the mine’s owner, International Coal Group Inc. of Ashland, Ky., and the United Mine Workers union also were to attend.
Poisonous gas is still being purged from the mine, about 100 miles north of Charleston, and the company doesn’t know when it will be safe for investigators to enter it.
It is going to be interesting to see how he progresses, hopefully he will come out without brain damage, although I am not sure how likely that is.
Donnel wrote:
Erodalak wrote:Who needs an education when you are hawt like advina
He knows what happened, but you do not know if he was the first to go unconscious or if he saw all his peers die. There is a good chance he has no clue that he is the only survivor.
Donnel wrote:
Erodalak wrote:Who needs an education when you are hawt like advina
I would think it would make sense that he would have been one of the last to go unconscious. I could be wrong, but wouldnt you go unconscious just before you die? I mean wouldnt unconsciousness be the last stage before you die like that? I guess id been thinking he watched the others die, went unconscious, and they rescued him in time to save him. Someone correct me im kinda curious
Did you all see the group of Kansas fag hating redicals that came and tried to disrupt the memorial services? I didnt understand that too much, if you know the coal mining type, you would know are predominatly fag hating rednecks lol
theres actually 2 more miners trapped in another mine at the moment about 20 minutes from me at a mine I used to have to go to. This one is a Massey Energy mine tho so it wasnt expected, I believe it was a simple belt fire. They are already dead from what they expect here =/
Gaazy wrote:theres actually 2 more miners trapped in another mine at the moment about 20 minutes from me at a mine I used to have to go to. This one is a Massey Energy mine tho so it wasnt expected, I believe it was a simple belt fire. They are already dead from what they expect here =/
