Hartland Mom Loses Eye During Son's Baseball Game

It was a rainy day during last Saturday’s Hartland varsity baseball game against Linden, when Jenny Kesson, who went to watch her son play, bent over to roll her wet pants up. As she went to stand back up, Kesson’s whole life changed in an instant, as a line-drive hit went foul.

“It was such a freak, freak accident,” said Laura Simon, Kesson’s sister. “She stood up, a kid hit the ball-- a line drive-- and it hit her right in her eye.”

Kesson was rushed to University of Michigan hospital where doctors told her she was lucky to be alive but then informed the Hartland mom that she would end up losing her eye.

With all her eye socket bones fractured, Kesson will undergo eye removal surgery on Friday. She will then face months of facial reconstructive surgeries and rehabilitation.

“Thank God she’s not dead or brain-dead,” Simon said. “That’s the biggest thing, but it’s so traumatic ‘cause she’s going to have to lose her eye.”

The baseball game was played on the fields at Linden High School where Simon says the fence surrounding the baseball diamond was too low and did nothing to prevent the accident.

“They do not have 6-foot fences around the field,” Simon says explaining that Hartland fields and other surrounding areas have the larger fences protecting the fans in the bleachers and on the sidelines.

“If anything good could come out of this,” Simon said. “She (Kesson) wants them to get new fences so this never happens to someone else.”

Although doctors told Kesson that she would be able to live with “100 percent functionality and a totally normal life,” according to Simon, she will still need months of therapy to learn to live with her new impairment.

“She’s a trooper, she’s spitfire and she will be fine,” Simon said. “She is doing better than we are. She knows she’s going to lose her eye and it’s sad, but she knows she going to be okay. And she knows she really could have died from this and she is just thankful that she’s alive and she will be here to watch her kids graduate.”

A fundraiser is being held at for Kesson and her family which includes her husband and two children, 17-year-old Jordan who is a junior at and his 15-year-old sister, Jenna, who is a freshman.

On Friday night, Striking Lanes will be donating its proceeds to Kesson, who is an avid bowler, which will help pay for her medical bills and support the family during her recovery.

“He (Chet Singh, owner) has donated the whole bowling alley basically and any money that is collected at the door is going to my sister and her family,” Simone said. “Which is just un-un-un believable. We’re anticipating it’s going to be really packed there tomorrow night.”

Expressing her sister’s wish to thank the Hartland community as well as the athletic department and the high school for all their support, Simon says her sister is grateful for everyone’s well wishes.

“We all can’t believe the amount of support that she’s gotten from the Hartland community,” Simon said who adds that her sister wanted to send out her own words of support to the young Hartland player who hit the ball which led to the accident.

“My sister wants to let him (player) know that this is not his fault,” Simon said. “It was a total freak accident. She should have been paying attention to the game and it could have happened to any player and any parent, it just happened to be him and her. She just wants him to know that this is not his fault.”

The starts at 9:15 pm. Contact Joyce or Chet at for more information or to donate to the Kesson family.