AFLW star opens up on how being struck by LIGHTNING ‘ruined her life’ and reveals traumatic ordeal
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The AFLW star opens up about how being hit by LIGHTNING ‘ruined her life’ as she reveals her traumatic ordeal has left her scared to leave her house at times: ‘I feel like a different person’
An AFLW star who was struck by lightning recalled the terrifying moment she saw blue flashes “going up my arms” and revealed how the ordeal “ruined my life.”
Essendon’s petite forward Jessica Wuetschner was struck by lightning two weeks before the start of the 2020 AFLW season while working as a stevedore in Queensland.
The then-Brisbane Lions player said in a TikTok video that she had warned one of her colleagues that they should not have been working outside when it began to rain torrentially.
Jessica Wuetschner was struck by lightning while working in Queensland in 2020
“I tell the guy who’s working with me, ‘We shouldn’t be working right now, it’s too bad a storm to be out right now,'” he said.
As the lightning struck the post he was supporting, Wuetschner heard a ‘big bang’ before seeing ‘big bluish and white flashes going up my arms’.
The former Lions player, who was 27 at the time, was rushed to hospital and subsequently released with no lasting physical injuries.
But it soon became clear that the incident had seriously affected his mental state, and he returned to hospital two weeks after developing an adverse reaction to an anti-anxiety medication.
The striker returned to action in 2021 and inspired the Lions to their first AFLW premiership.
“It was a really scary time and that’s when we came to the conclusion that I needed to take antidepressants to help manage the anxiety,” she said.
Wuetschner, the 34th overall pick in the AFLW’s inaugural Draft in 2016, revealed that she is still dealing with anxiety and PTSD caused by her ordeal.
“I was lucky not to be physically affected,” she said.
“I was wearing rubber gloves and rubber shoes, and I was suspended in midair, which means electricity didn’t go through me, which is my saving grace.
Wuetschner kicked two goals as Brisbane beat Adelaide 38-20 in the 2021 AFLW Grand Final
‘Saving grace for my life, but not so much for my mental health.’
But the consequences of the incident have been far reaching and continue to affect their daily lives.
“I’m afraid to leave the house some days yet,” he said.
“I couldn’t think of going anywhere that wasn’t in my safe zone, in my safe place.
‘I’m afraid to eat certain things in case I have an allergic reaction. I am afraid of bugs. I am afraid of any kind of medicine that is not familiar.
She joined Essendon in June last year after being delisted from Brisbane.
“I really don’t like leaving the house still, I still struggle with that a lot in case something happens. […] that is why [the lightning strike] it has ruined my life and I feel like a different person.’
The Hobart native finally returned to the field in 2021 and played a crucial role in the Lions’ first tenure, scoring twice as Brisbane beat Adelaide 38-20 to win the flag.
Wuetschner, a 2018 All-Australian, was the Lions’ top kicker in 2018 and 2019 joining Essendon in June last year, just a month after she was delisted by Brisbane after she announced she would be taking a leave of absence. taking a break from soccer to focus on his mental health. Health.