Lucy Morgan of New Jersey dies after badminton racket pierces her skull

US News

From Katherine Donlevy

A New Jersey family’s vacation took a tragic turn when a splinter from a badminton racket broke off and pierced their six-year-old daughter’s skull, resulting in her fatal injury.

Little Lucy Morgan died on Wednesday, four days after the shocking, bizarre accident during a supposedly idyllic trip to a lake in Maine.

The tragedy struck Saturday as the Morgan family of six were spending their last full day at their rented vacation home in Limerick, Maine, according to their father, Jesse Morgan, a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway.

“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 wrote in a blog post titled “Disaster Strikes.”

“Due to a bizarre accident involving a racket that broke during the downswing, a sharp piece had penetrated Lucy’s skull while she was sitting on the sidelines, causing a catastrophic injury.”

Lucy was breathing but unresponsive when emergency medical services took her to a local hospital, from where the injured girl was flown by helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland, according to Maine State Police.

When Lucy remained lying on the table, she was immediately taken to the operating room, where surgeons removed part of her skull to relieve the pressure.

Fortunately, the doctors managed to resuscitate the young girl, but Lucy had lost all brain function and the ability to breathe independently.

Doctors warned the family that the little girl had “very little chance” of recovery – the baton had penetrated very deeply into her brain and caused immediate arterial bleeding, Morgan explained.

The little girl succumbed to her injuries around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, a day after her death was predicted.

“Every time I looked in the rearview mirror, I wished I could see Lucy munching on chicken nuggets after we stopped at Wendy’s and ordered just for 5,” Morgan wrote of the long, 350-mile drive back to her New Jersey home without Lucy.

According to Morgan, Lucy’s siblings Silas (10), Shiloh (8) and Atticus (4) are having a hard time coming to terms with the loss. Tragically, “they blame themselves and are taking it hard.”

Maine State Police determined that Lucy had been playing with her ten-year-old brother when the aluminum shaft of the bat came loose from its wooden handle, causing the shaft to strike the girl in the head and pierce her skull.

Her funeral will take place on June 15th at her father’s church.