METALLICA played in hopes of reviving miner

Randal McCloy is the lone survivor from the recent coal mine disaster in West Virginia, but unfortunately he remains in a medically induced coma in a Pittsburgh hospital.

Anna McCloy, Randal's wife, hopes his favorite band METALLICA can help revive the 26 year-old man. Mrs. McCloy bought a boom box and a METALLICA CD from Walmart to play at loud volumes in her husband's hospital room.

Mrs. McCloy mentioned that along with METALLICA's music, prayers and knowledge that his wife and two children love him and need him are the things keeping Randal alive.

"It's amazing, it's a miracle," she said of his survival. "Faith plays a big role. Without it, we wouldn't be coping. It's given us hope."

Doctors are applying treatments of hyperbaric oxygen to help McCloy's brain recover from the effects of lack of oxygen.

Richard Shannon, chairman of medicine at Allegheny General Hospital, said Mr. McCloy's heart and kidney function and muscle injuries had improved. But he continued to have serious inflammation of the left lung, and doctors will not know the extent of brain damage until he is out of the coma.

Dr. Shannon said that the lungs began to fill with dust and gases in the mine and that Mr. McCloy had lost his ability to cough or sneeze as he lay on his side awaiting rescue.

McCloy survived more than 40 hours in the Sago, West Virginia disaster that killed 12 fellow miners with carbon monoxide intoxication, the medical examiner said.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES




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Darren Cowan    January 08, 2006