The heartbroken father of a 6-year-old New Jersey girl who died in a freak accident while playing badminton has shared new touching memories of his “bubbly” and strong-willed daughter.
“Her personality was very bubbly and also reserved at times,” said Jesse Morgan, a pastor at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, NJ, of his tragic daughter Lucy.
“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,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview published Sunday.
He recalled Lucy’s penchant for affection, referring to her as the “main cuddler” in the 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 wants to lie with you and snuggle up,” the grieving dad told the outlet.
The tragedy happened June 1, the last day of an otherwise picturesque lakeside family vacation in Limerick, Maine.
A badminton racquet splintered as little Lucy played with her three siblings in the front yard of the family’s rental cottage, and a metal piece of it pierced the little girl’s skull.
Emergency responders rushed her to a local hospital, which then airlifted the still-breathing but unresponsive child to Maine Medical Center in Portland, according to Maine State Police.
She was taken directly into the operating room, where surgeons removed part of her skull to relieve pressure, when Lucy flatlined on the table.
Although doctors were successful in reviving the child, she had lost all brain function and the full ability to breathe on her own.
Lucy succumbed to her injuries around 4 a.m. Wednesday, a day longer than she was expected to survive.
Upon returning home from the life-changing trip, Jesse remembered looking at photos of Lucy with his wife Bethany and their other daughter.
“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 said.
He described the family vacation up until the accident — which happened on the first week of his sabbatical — as “the best week of her life.”
Photos of the vacation Jesse shared on his blog show the bright smiles of Lucy and her siblings as the family climbed trees, hiked in the woods and enjoyed a nap on a lakeside hammock.
