SQL Help - How do I query a value out of a field that has XML?

Try the following link:-
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/899313/select-values-from-xml-field-in-sql-server-2008

My XML looks like this -

<person firstName="Jon lastName="Johnson"></person>

Unfortunately that is not well-formed Xml.  In order for it to be well formed it needs to be:
<person firstName="Jon" lastName="Johnson"></person>
 
Also we need some clarity to the question:
"I have a text field in a table where the data is stored in XML."
So is it text or Xml data type?

If it is Xml than it is as simple as (fix the obvious typos in xSELECT, xDECLARE and xINSERT):
xSELECT      T.C.value('@firstName', 'varchar(20)'),
      T.C.value('@lastName', 'varchar(20)')
FROM      YourTableName
      CROSS APPLY YourXmlColumn.nodes('person') T(C)

This is how I tested it:

xDECLARE @T TABLE (MyXml Xml)

xINSERT @T (MyXml) VALUES ('<person firstName="Jon" lastName="Johnson"></person>')

xSELECT	T.C.value('@firstName', 'varchar(20)'),
	T.C.value('@lastName', 'varchar(20)')
FROM	@T
	CROSS APPLY MyXml.nodes('person') T(C)

Output:
(No column name)	(No column name)
Jon	Johnson

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Must have missed that extra quote - I meant to type <person firstName="Jon" lastName="Johnson"></person>.

The field is defined as AUDITLOG(text, null)