6-Year-Old Girl Tragically Killed in Freak Badminton Accident During Family Vacation

The father of a 6-year-old New Jersey girl, who tragically died from head trauma after a freak accident involving a badminton racket on the final day of a family vacation, reminisced about his daughter’s “bubbly” personality and the heartbreaking day that changed their lives forever.

Jesse Morgan, whose daughter Lucy passed away unexpectedly while playing with her siblings, shared memories of her with Fox News Digital. “Her personality was very bubbly and also reserved at times,” he said. “Once you got to know her, she was very, very outspoken and a lot of fun. She was a tough kid and played soccer really hard.”

Jesse, reflecting on photos of Lucy with his daughter and wife, Bethany, mentioned, “My wife just made the comment that her beauty is haunting. Some of those pictures are just, she’s just so gorgeous, and her personality is so incredible.”

He fondly recalled Lucy as the “main cuddler” in their family of six. “I just remember her coming up with her bedhead [hair] and just wanting to sit with you for a long time. Not restless, just wanting to lie with you and snuggle up.”

As a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, New Jersey, Jesse explained that their family vacation was part of his sabbatical. “We were on our first week [of sabbatical] and it was, according to her, the best week of her life,” he said. “We did so many fun things.”

Photos shared by the family showed Lucy and her three siblings, Silas, Shiloh, and Atticus, enjoying activities like fishing and kayaking in Limerick, Maine, before the tragic incident. The idyllic vacation abruptly ended on May 30, after a leisurely lunch. Jesse and Bethany were reading and resting in the backyard while the children played badminton. Suddenly, their son came to them, “very concerned.”

“We went out, and we saw what had happened, which was just indescribable terror going from so quiet, so calm to an incredibly traumatic experience,” Jesse recalled.

Lucy was struck when the shaft of the racket, used by her 10-year-old brother, broke apart and flew into her skull. “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,” Jesse explained in his blog, New Creation Living. “She was still breathing but unresponsive as I held her with Bethany crying out to God.”

Lucy was taken to a local hospital and then moved to a hospital in Portland, Maine. Four days later, she succumbed to her injuries. “After significant thorough testing and even more repeated tests to be certain, brain death was declared at 1:32 a.m. on June 5, and her heart stopped beating around 4 a.m.,” Jesse wrote. “Lucy was with Jesus.”

Jesse and Bethany found comfort in their belief that Lucy “believed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.” Jesse recalled, “Four weeks ago, she asked Bethany how to be with God and be saved. Bethany explained it to her, but ‘Miss Independent’ wanted to do it herself. She went to her room and prayed to God to forgive her and that she believed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.”

They were further comforted after discovering Lucy’s prayer journal, which Jesse said felt “as if God was writing with her.” He added, “How a 6-year-old journal like this is beyond me. After that, she seemed to get writer’s block and just draw beautiful pictures of Bible stories and hearts.” Reflecting on Lucy’s life and faith, Jesse and Bethany hold onto the precious memories and the belief that she is now in a better place.