Essendon forward Jessica Wuetschner has opened up about the traumatic lightning strike almost three years ago that “ruined her life”, severely impacted her mental health and left her feeling like a “different person”.
The All-Australian and premiership player was 27, and playing for the Brisbane Lions, when while working as a stevedore unloading ships on the docks in Brisbane, the crane she was holding on to was struck by lightning in the early hours of the morning.
“A storm just starts rolling in, and it is pouring with rain, I mean like torrential Queensland pour, and the wind is like 60ks an hour, blowing through, it’s like needles to the face,” Wuetschner explains in a video posted to her TikTok account.
Jessica Wuetschner. Credit:Getty
“I say to the guy who’s working with me, ‘We should not be working right now, it is too bad of a storm, to be out right now,’ but me being just me, little stevedore not in charge, just does what I’m told.”
She then heard a “bang, clap ‘zzzz’,” which was the lightning hitting the pole she was holding.
“When this happened, I saw big, bluey white flashes go up my arms, and then I kind of like, from there, just sort of fell to the ground.
“I was like lucky not to be physically affected, I was wearing rubber gloves and rubber shoes, and I was suspended in the air, which means the electricity didn’t go through me, which is my saving grace.
“Saving grace to my life but not so much my mental health.”
Wuetschner thought she was going to die before an ambulance took her to hospital.
“After about three hours they discharged me, at about 5.30am-ish… I walked out of the hospital with no shoes, soaking wet, no way to get home, no family, none of my friends were answering their phone. I had to get in a taxi soaking wet, by myself, to get home.”
Two weeks after the lightning strike, Wuetschner had a breakdown and tried anti-anxiety medication, which had an adverse reaction that ended up making her situation worse.
After having what she said was the worst anxiety and panic attacks of her life, she ended up back in hospital.
“It was a really scary time and that’s when we sort of came to the conclusion I needed to go on antidepressants to help manage anxiety,” she said.
Wuetschner stayed on the medication for about 18 months. It was good at allowing her to get back to some normality in life, including with football, but it didn’t allow her to do the work she needed to move forward with the feelings of anxiety and depression from the incident.
Jessica Wuetschner celebrates a goal when playing for the Lions.Credit:Getty
Wuetschner played an integral role in the Lions’ 2021 premiership win and was a two-time leading goalkicker for the club.
She took time off in season six to focus on her mental health and wellbeing and wasn’t offered a contract from Brisbane for season seven.
She then joined the Bombers for their inaugural year, playing nine of their 10 games and kicking a goal in their debut match.
Her anxiety leaves her scared to leave the house some days.
“I used to travel the world, [but] I couldn’t even think about travelling now. I couldn’t [think] about leaving anywhere that’s not in my safe zone, that’s not in my safe place,” she said.
“I’m scared about eating certain things just incase I have an allergic reaction, I’m scared of bugs, I’m scared of any kind of medications that aren’t familiar, I’ll have basically paracetamol and that’s about it. I don’t really like to leave the house still, I still struggle with that a lot just in case something happens. It’s always those what ifs.
“So, that’s kind of what I’ve been struggling with …that’s why it’s ruined my life and I feel like a different person.”
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