WATCH: Former Rockeldge and Flagler College Softball Player Jackie Mijuskovic Stresses Faith

Jackie Mijuskovic Stresses Perspective during COVI9-19 Challenges, Importance of Family

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Former Rockledge Raider and Flagler College softball player Jackie Mijuskovic suffered career-ending injuries, including several broken bones in her face, a fractured skull and brain bleeding during a game in April 2019.  About two months after the accident, Jackie and her parents sat down with the Friday Night Locker Room’s Orville Susong and Steve Wilson to talk about her injuries. Since then, with the love and support of her family, friends and teammates, Jackie has battled back stronger than ever and offers words of faith and encouragement during the current COVID-19 challenges in the video below and HERE.

Suffered career-ending injuries, including several broken bones in her face, a fractured skull and brain bleeding during a game in April 2019 in North Carolina

By Lauren Moore, FlaglerAthletics.com

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA (FlaglerAthletics.com) — There was a sense of ease.

In this kind of moment, laying in a hospital bed with your future in question, that description wouldn’t capture just anyone. Good thing Jaclyn Mijuskovic, a senior Flagler College softball player, isn’t just anyone.

“I said ‘Honestly, mom, if this was it and I wasn’t OK and I didn’t live or I was never the same again, if that were the case, I would be OK with it,” she remembers saying, “because I left nothing unsaid. I regret nothing that I’ve ever done, said, or participated in my life.

“It was a good feeling.”

A year ago, those were the words Jaclyn, who is better known as Jackie, spoke after suffering truly a freak accident on the softball field at UNC Pembroke while playing catcher.

Diving for a live ball, she collided with a teammate that resulted in a more significant injury than she initially thought.

“For a while, I thought I just broke my nose, and I would just get a quick nose job and be back on the field really quickly,” she said.

However, it wasn’t that easy of a fix nor was it an injury Jackie could have ever imagined happening to her. But, unfortunately, it did and is why April 7th will forever be engraved as the day that turned the now 22-year-old’s life upside down.

“You go about your day thinking nothing can ever happen,” Jackie said, “and then you don’t know it can, until it does.”

WATCH: Jackie Mijuskovic describes her tragic injury on the softball field, how she overcame it, and how student-athletes affected by the coronavirus can use what they learned through sports to guide them. (Flagler College Athletics video)

Walking Miracle

The injury was very significant — life-threatening even.

Once Jackie and her parents, Mark and Sylvia Mijuskovic, left the field and arrived at the local hospital, the CT scan revealed the broken nose and much more. It showed that over 10 broken bones throughout the orbital region of her face were shattered, her skull was fractured, and her brain was bleeding with cerebrospinal fluid coming from her nose.

The realization kicked into high gear as Jackie was prepped for immediate air transportation to the Carolina Medical Center in Charlotte. Even then, with her life in flux, she found some good in the situation.

CLICK HERE to see the full story on FlaglerAthletics.com>>>

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