STUFF LIKE THAT ( SAGO MINER LEAVING HOSPITAL )

By Vicki Smith ASSOCIATED PRESS

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Randal McCloy Jr.'s memories of the 41 hours he lay trapped inside the Sago Mine are "not much really," just fragmented images he'd mainly rather forget.

And when he thinks of the 12 friends and co-workers who slowly succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning after the Jan. 2 explosion, he pictures them elsewhere.

"I try to leave out all the gory details and stuff like that because I don't like to look at them in that light and that way," he told The Associated Press yesterday. "I just like to picture them saved and in heaven, stuff like that.

"That's really the best way you can remember somebody."

Doctors say McCloy, 26, of Simpson, was perhaps minutes from death Jan. 4 when he was pulled from the coal mine, which is owned by International Coal Group Inc., based in Ashland. He had kidney, lung, liver and heart damage. He was in a coma for weeks, suffering from severe brain injuries.

But after just three months of intensive rehabilitation and medical care, he is expected to return home today.