Here is the letter Jack wrote...
I am very lucky kid. I have a great family, I have lots of good friends, I play on a great hockey team, and school is fun. I am grateful for all of these things, but something happened to me that has changed how I felt about everything.
About one year ago, while I was outside playing, I ran straight into a pole. It sounds funny, it probably even looked funny, but it was a big deal and it changed my life. I suffered from a pretty bad concussion, and I had no idea what impact it would have on me. I thought a concussion was just a big headache, but it was so much more than that.
For about a week after my concussion, I had to miss school and after-school activities. I slept for days. I couldn’t stand to be near a light, see a screen, read or do anything that I had to focus on. I slowly started to feel okay but I was very frustrated when I started to feel a bit better and I couldn’t do anything. No TV, no reading, no screens. All I was allowed to do was go outside and walk.
I went back to school a couple weeks later, and I thought because I felt good enough to go back to school that I was totally better. I didn’t realize concussions lasted a long time. The sound of the bell bothered me and I couldn’t go out on the schoolyard because it felt like there was too much going on. My relationships with my friends seemed strange and I was really sensitive about everything. I felt like people were making me sad a lot easier than before. I was acting funny and I never thought before I spoke.