HIT BY LIGHTNING, SAVED BY LOVE!

Footy star Jess almost lost her life in a wild electrical storm

- Phillip Koch

It is hard to imagine the sheer terror experienced by Jess Wuetschner when she was hit by a bolt of lightning.

The AFL Women’s star collapsed after the freak act of nature left her disorientated on a metal platform, high above a container ship at the Port of Brisbane.

“I heard this huge crack and big bang, and that was when the lightning hit and I saw it go up my arm,” she tells Woman’s Day. “It was like this blue-white bolt that was flashing. It was really quick. I was in shock and fell to the floor.”

The brilliant Brisbane Lions player, who by night worked as a stevedore unloading ships, remembers being terrified she was going to die as the rain fell and 65km/h gusts rushed past her. “Lucky I had rubber gloves on, which allowed me to release the pole from my hands. They said if I didn’t have those and boots on, I wouldn’t be here,” she recalls of that day in January 2020.

TRAUMATIC EVENT

Jess was suspended in a small metal cage, attached to a crane, which was lowered to the ground a few minutes after she was struck. She was taken to hospital and, incredibly, had no physical injuries.

The next day, her mum Carina flew in from Tasmania to help nurse her daughter through the trauma.