Some of you might remember the Sago Mine Accident, which occurred in early January, 2006, in West Virginia....
Miners were trapped underground in a coal mine and by the time rescuers could get to them, only ONE miner was still alive.
I was in CanCun. I was watching CNN News. Lou Dobbs was reporting. Carbon monoxide had killed 12 miners
and the only one alive had been taken to a hospital in critical condition.
I knew that carbon monoxide kills because it occupies the place of hemoglobin in red blood cells. A victim's survival depends on getting him oxygen to his red blood cells, but this cannot happen while carbon monoxide occupies the place of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen.
I also knew that the best way to save a victim's life is to force carbon monoxide out of the red blood cells with oxygen under pressure, ie, hyperbaric oxygen. Oxygen will also be forced into the plasma which carries red blood cells, and even into the lymphatic system, thus oxygen will reach everywhere in the victim's body.
But as I listened to Lou Dobbs, HE DID NOT MENTION that the lone survivor was being treated with hyperbaric oxygen!
Surely, I thought, if he does not MENTION it, it is because IT IS NOT HAPPENING! HE IS NOT GETTING HYPERBARIC OXYGEN!
I got all excited and upset, but what could I do, I was in CanCun.
I had to tell his doctors that he needs hyperbaric oxygen. But how was I going to do that?
I got on the internet and searched for "sago mine accident west virginia hospital"
Bingo!
Immediately I got "One Miner survives explosion at ICG Sago mine in West Virginia... taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital in nearby Buchannon, West Virginia"
So now I knew he was in St. Joseph's Hospital, in Buchannon, West Virginia.
So I looked up "St. Joseph's Hospital, Buchannon, West Virginia" and soon I had a telephone number for the hospital.
Mexico is far away, but it is not that far away. I picked up a telephone and I called the Hospital.
My heart was pounding...
The operator answered, and I explained that I was calling from Mexico....
"You're in Mexico?" the operator asked...
"Yes, Ma'am... I'm calling from Mexico. I have to get an urgent message through to the doctors of the survivor of the West Virgina coal mining accident... He needs to have hyperbaric oxygen therapy done, as soon as possible. This will force carbon monoxide out of his blood."
"Just a moment," the operator said. "I'm going to pass you to Emergency..."
A few moments passed while the call was transferred to Emergency...
I thought to myself. "Will they believe me?"
Emergency answered... A woman asked me how can she help me?
I explained to her that I was calling from Mexico, and I asked her to please take notes of what I was going to tell her... I repeated what I had told the operator before her. "Please tell his doctors that HE NEEDS HYPERBARIC OXYGEN"
"Are you a doctor?" she asked.
"No, Ma'am, I'm not a doctor. But I know that the miner needs hyperbaric oxygen."
She asked me to spell it. I spelled it out... "H Y P E R - B A R I C OXYGEN"
And I repeated what the benefit would be: "Tell them this will force carbon monoxide out of his blood.... Can you get this message through to his doctors?"
"Yes," she answered, "I certainly will try!"
I thanked her, and hung up the phone.
But then I heard on the news that the coal miner had been transferred to another hospital. Oh no!
I wasn't taking any chances... I had done this once before, I could do it again.
Soon I had a telephone number for West Virginia University Hospital ...
I repeated my call. I left the same message at West Virginia University Hospital. The person who received the call also said he would relay my message.
Thursday passed for me... It was Friday now... I woke up early, 3:30 A.M. By now I had learned the name of the miner...
Randal McCloy was on my mind.
I turned on the television, to CNN again... Lou Dobbs reporting... a rerun of a news show on prime time...
Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke... etc....
Then I heard Lou Dobbs say "Tonight, the sole survivor of the Sago coal mine disaster in West Virginia has been transferred to a hospital in Pittsburgh for specialized medical treatment. He is going to be undergoing what they call...
He looked at his notes... "Hyperbaric oxygen therapy.!"
Wow! I couldn't believe it! I burst into tears...
My message had gotten through!
I point out that at the time of the accident, THERE WAS NOT A HYPERBARIC CHAMBER IN OR NEAR THE SAGO MINE, AND THERE WAS NOT A HYPERBARIC OXYGEN CHAMBER IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, for which reason Randall McCloy had to be taken to Pennsylvania !
In June, 2006, President George W. Bush signed a new law "the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act" which hopefully means that now there are hyperbaric oxygen chambers ready in case of a similar emergency in all mines in the U.S.A. And now, finally, hyperbaric oxygen is being used for more and more different conditions. - Ellis
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President George W. Bush meets with miner Randal McCloy Jr., and his wife Anna in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building Thursday, June 15, 2006, before signing S. 2803, the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act. Mr. McCloy survived a January 2006 mining accident that left 12 others dead in Sago, West Virginia.
White House photo by Eric Draper