Give Big Jack the send off he deserves

Hi, my name is Daniel and I’m fundraising for my brother.

Jack Brook

06/09/1988 - 20/1/2023

He was the most kind, loving, good hearted person I could have ever known. People from all over will tell you the same, I believe he was roughly 6”3/6”4 and many referred to him as a “gentle giant”.

Our family have a history of issues with mental health and we’re trying tirelessly to break the cycle. Our Father committed suicide 20 years ago and it had a knock on affect on everyone around him… Especially my brothers, my Mother and me.

He suffered with Bipolar type 1, depression, anxiety, OCD, adhd and undoubtedly PTSD.

Around 2013/2014 he developed very strong tourette like symptoms and tics, both physically and verbally. Doctors wouldn’t diagnose him as they said that they didn’t see any signs of it (because when he was uncomfortable he would hold it in to save embarrassment) but he told them what symptoms he’d been having and so did we.

Despite his daily struggle he worked… and boy did he work hard. If you’re ever passing the Masjid Riza Mosque in Birkby, Huddersfield. Please, if you know anything about construction, stop and take a second to admire the workmanship that went into that job. He was such a talented man and that was certainly one of his greatest achievements… Along with many more.

He had gone commercial and, to be honest, I think he began to over work himself. He then did what most of us do when we struggle, and he used something to help him cope…

Cocaine destroys homes, families and hearts.

He began to lose his way… it came out that he was hearing voices all along and all of a sudden he thought he was speaking to God. He had developed psychosis, through type 1 bipolar.

A few incidents had occurred but he never hurt anyone, only himself and damage to his own property. This landed him in hospital where people could only visit him for 1 hour at a time and during COVID we had to sit at opposite sides of the room to him… EVEN HIS OWN DAUGHTERS!

After 3 years of being inside they discharged him. He struggled at first… He had a few hiccups here and there but all in all he was doing better than expected. He came to work with us. Did work for himself. He even felt good about himself for a minute…

But he couldn’t see his daughters and he missed his wife… he loved them so much.

It was either them or cocaine and even though we knew he had the strength to do it, he didn’t believe he did.

Unfortunately he couldn’t say no… but it wasn’t that he couldn’t say no to the drugs… that wasn’t the problem at all… he couldn’t say no to the voices telling him to do the drugs… because when he did, they wouldn’t leave him alone. They drove him mad until they got what they wanted… but all he wanted was to have his family back.

The system had once again failed us.

Doctors knew he was still hearing voices… Which they knew were named “Satan & Lucifer”…

Whilst I was there, 2 care workers checked up on him the week before it happened. Within 5 minutes they’d been and gone… But why?…

I don’t even visit my own friends for 5 minutes and these people are getting paid for it? Even to be present for half an hour in silence would have a more positive affect than 5 minutes of saying what’s on a piece of paper and hurrying out.

My Mother rung 3 mental health teams to find out when he was last seen by them and they said they’d call back… and they did… the next morning.

I’m not blaming them for what happened but… where the hell is the compassion?

They knew that he wasn’t ready to be released… not yet.

But I do believe that everyone goes when it’s their time and at least he’s finally at peace.

Jack was loved by so many, hundreds in fact. There’s no doubt that without telling his story the mark that he left on so many hearts will have already raised the money for his funeral, perhaps even more… if that’s the case then anything left over will go to charity to help raise awareness for mental health as well as drug abuse.

We’ve decided between ourselves that we aren’t going to mourn his death and instead we’re going to celebrate his life. We’re to dress colourfully and smart to match our Jack’s wonderful personality… It’s what he’d of wanted.

All are welcome but if you didn’t really know him or aren’t accompanying someone that did, please have the respect and consideration for others not to come as there’s going to be a lot of people there as it is.

Thank you.

This is going to be a big funeral, what else could we expect for our Big Jack?

You were more than loved bro… Words cannot describe how much you will be missed❤️❤️❤️