LAUREL, Del. - Today marks two years since the world lost wrestling legend and Sussex County icon Jamin Pugh, better known in the wrestling ring as Jay Briscoe, to a car crash.
Pugh's truck was hit head-on. Both he and the other driver, 27-year-old Lillyanne Trenaman, died at the scene. Pugh's two daughters, Gracie and Jayleigh, were severely injured in the crash.
On Friday, WBOC interviewed Jamin's mother, Jana Pugh, to learn how the family is doing and discuss Jamin's lasting legacy.
"We're definitely better," says Pugh. "To be honest, that day is a little bit of a blur. A lot was going on. A lot was happening, but I do remember telling you that we understood that this was a part of God's plan, and we believe that even stronger now."
As for Jamin's daughters, Gracie and Jayleigh, Jana says they are also doing much better than they were two years ago. She says Jayleigh has fully recovered from several broken bones and internal bleeding. Gracie was paralyzed from the waist down, but Jana says she is now walking again almost as well as she was before the accident.
"Therapy was teaching her to live in a wheelchair, and Ashley, her mom, and I kept saying she's not going to live in a wheelchair," says Pugh. "Bless her heart, Gracie worked so hard."
To this day, Jamin's brother and the other half of the Briscoe Brothers wrestling duo, Mark Briscoe, still wrestles and travels the world.
"That's his other half," Pugh says with tears in her eyes. "Mark is my hero. I watch him, and I'm honestly in awe that he can do that without Jamin."
Mark and his wife Brittany even named their new baby boy after Jamin.
"We just have to live and be as happy as we can," says Pugh. "That's what Jamin would want. I know Jamin has no power, but there's a part of me that thinks he is still in that ring with Mark every time he steps in there."
