A family's vacation in Maine took a horrific turn after their six-year-old daughter died following a freak accident involving a badminton racket.
Lucy Morgan died on Wednesday, four days after a freak accident occurred during what was supposed to be a peaceful lakeside getaway in Limerick, Maine.
The incident happened on Saturday while the Morgan family was enjoying their last full day at a rented cottage, according to Jesse Morgan, Lucy’s father and a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, New Jersey.
“We were eating a quick lunch by the lake and the kids decided to try badminton in the front yard. Bethany and I were relaxing in the back when we heard screaming,” Morgan recounted in a blog post titled “Calamity Strikes.”
“Due to a freak accident with a racquet that broke on a downward swing, a sharp piece had entered Lucy’s skull while she was sitting on the sideline and caused catastrophic injury.”
Maine State Police confirmed that Lucy’s injury was an unintentional result of her 10-year-old brother’s swing. The aluminum shaft of the racket detached from its wooden handle and struck Lucy in the head.
Though she was breathing, Lucy was unresponsive when emergency services arrived. She was rushed to a local hospital and then airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Surgeons operated immediately, removing part of her skull to relieve pressure. Despite their efforts, Lucy flatlined during the procedure.
Doctors were able to revive her, but Lucy had lost all brain function and the ability to breathe independently, per the New York Post.
The family was informed that her chances of recovery were very slim due to the deep penetration of the racket shaft into her brain, causing significant arterial bleeds.
Lucy passed away around 4:00AM on Wednesday, one day after doctors had predicted she would not survive.
“Every time I looked into the rearview mirror, wishing I saw Lucy munching on some chicken nuggets after we stopped at Wendy’s and only ordered for 5,” Jesse Morgan wrote about the somber 350-mile drive back to their New Jersey home without his daughter.
Lucy’s siblings - Silas, 10, Shiloh, 8, and Atticus, 4—are struggling to cope with the loss, with Silas particularly burdened by guilt.
“How we could ever be happy again,” he asked his grieving parents, according to Jesse Morgan’s blog.
“We just sat on the front steps for a while crying until I finally mustered up the courage to open the door. We again collapsed in a pile on the kitchen floor crying harder as a family than we ever have,” he wrote.
Lucy’s funeral is scheduled for June 15 at her father’s church.