Pittsburgh – The lone survivor of the West Virginia coal mining tragedy probably started to inhale large amounts of dust and gases in the last hour he spent in the mine as he lay on his left side, causing inflammation in his left lung, a doctor said Friday.
Dr. Richard Shannon, speaking for a team of doctors treating Randal McCloy Jr., said that stabilizing the inflammation will be important for getting the miner off a ventilator.
The dust and gases were inhaled because McCloy, in the hour before his rescue, lost the ability to cough, sneeze or control his airway, the doctor said.
McCloy was taken by ambulance Thursday from a West Virginia hospital to Pittsburgh’s Allegheny General Hospital, where he lay in critical condition in a medically induced coma with brain damage and other injuries from oxygen deprivation.
Doctors stressed it will take time before the extent of the brain damage is known.
Shannon said McCloy’s heart is now functioning properly and his blood test results are improving.
McCloy underwent two oxygen treatments earlier Friday, and Shannon said the treatments went well. Doctors said McCloy has shown some movement at times but that it was a result of changes in his medication.
McCloy, 26, of Simpson, W.Va., was rescued early Wednesday after being trapped in the Sago Mine near Tallmansville for more than 42 hours. Twelve other miners died.
His wife, Anna, had said earlier Friday that she felt her husband was reacting to her.
“I know he knows when I’m there because when I’m there, he gets excited,” she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” She said he also reacted when she brought their two children to see him.
