The grieving father of a six-year-old New Jersey girl who died in a freak accident while playing badminton has shared new, moving memories of his feisty, strong-willed daughter.
“She had a very bubbly personality, but also a bit of a reserved personality at times,” Jesse Morgan, pastor of Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, New Jersey, said of his tragically lost daughter, Lucy.
“Once you get to know her, she’s very outspoken and a lot of fun. She’s a tough kid and plays soccer very hard,” he said. Fox News Digital In an interview published Sunday.
He recalled Lucy’s loving nature, calling her “the cuddliest child” in his family of six.
“I remember her fixing my bedhead. [hair] “And I just want to sit with you for a long time. It’s not that I’m restless, I just want to lie down with you and cuddle,” the grieving father told media.
The tragedy occurred on June 1, the final day of a beautiful family vacation on the lake in Limerick, Maine.
Young Lucy was playing with her three siblings in the front garden of the family’s rented cottage when a badminton racket broke, sending metal shards piercing the girl’s skull.
Paramedics rushed her to a local hospital, where the girl, still breathing but unresponsive, was then airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine State Police said.
She was quickly rushed to the operating room, where surgeons removed part of her skull to relieve the pressure, but Lucy went into cardiac arrest on the operating table.
Doctors were able to resuscitate the child, but she had lost all brain function and the ability to breathe on her own.
Lucy died from her injuries at about 4 a.m. Wednesday, one day longer than she was expected to survive.
Returning home from his life-changing trip, Jesse recalled seeing a photo of Lucy, his wife Bethany, and their other daughter.
“My wife said she was never going to forget how beautiful she was, and when you look at the pictures you can see she was absolutely beautiful and had a great personality,” he said.
He described the family trip as “the best week of her life” until the accident, which occurred during the first week of the holiday.
Vacation Photo Jesse Share on Blog The footage shows Lucy and her siblings with bright smiles as the family climbs trees, hikes through the forest, and enjoys naps in a lakeside hammock.
