HUDSONVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) — Four months ago, it was almost impossible to picture Unity Christian High School junior Jake Chapman back in a uniform.
“Jake’s a big athlete. He loves football and he loves basketball. Always has loved any sport and it’s been just a joy to be able to go and watch him,” said his mom, Rachel Chapman.
On Sept. 22, Jake was playing a football game against Coopersville and was knocked unconscious in the game. He was taken off the field on a stretcher to the emergency room at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. He had suffered a severe concussion.
“I thought, well, kids get concussions. We’ll take it easy and he’s going to be fine. He didn’t really have any other signs that anything was wrong with him,” Rachel recalled.
Five days later, Jake came home from watching football practice with his younger brother in the kitchen.
“The two boys were there. I was kind of there with them talking and I just heard like a weird noise that I had never heard before,” Jake’s dad Chad Chapman said. “I thought at first he was just joking, playing around, and that’s when I yelled out his name. Then a second time, and he didn’t respond at all, so I knew something was obviously wrong.”