Report: Miner's Wife Hopes Prayers And METALLICA Will Jolt Him Out Of Coma

Gary Gately of The New York Times has issued the following report:

Anna McCloy went to Wal-Mart on Friday, bought a METALLICA CD and a boom box to play for her husband, Randal McCloy Jr., the sole survivor of the West Virginia mine disaster. Though he remained in a medically induced coma, Mrs. McCloy figured that blasting his favorite heavy-metal band in his hospital room could help revive him.

That, along with plenty of prayers and the knowledge that his wife and two children love him and need him, will help him pull through, Mrs. McCloy said at a news conference. Occasionally smiling and laughing, she added that she found strength in faith and had no doubt that he would recover.

"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."

Mr. McCloy, 26, of Simpson, survived more than 40 hours in the Sago disaster that killed 12 fellow miners with carbon monoxide intoxication, the medical examiner said.

As families began planning funerals for some co-workers, Mr. McCloy remained in critical condition and had two treatments of hyperbaric oxygen. Doctors hope that will help his brain recover from the effects of a lack of oxygen. Dr. 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.

Read the rest of the article at NYTimes.com.