Student-athlete works his way back from brain injury

By Jonathan Raymond Globe Correspondent / September 20, 2009

Hit in the face by a line drive, Matt Cook (shown with father Tom and mother Ann) spent four weeks in the hospital. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff/File 2007)

By Jonathan Raymond Globe Correspondent / September 20, 2009

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After the injury. After the rehabilitation. After the attention, and recovery, and return to the diamond and court, Matt Cook finally gets to take a breath, and just be a senior in high school.

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It was in March 2007 when a stray line drive found its way around a protective screen and struck Cook, who was tossing batting practice, in the face.

Then a freshman, Cook incurred a brain injury called expressive aphasia, leaving him with symptoms similar to a stroke victim. Speech and walking were difficult for a time. But after four weeks of therapy at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, he was able to return home to Hamilton.

And 10 months after being hit, he was back on a basketball court, suiting up as a small forward for the Hamilton-Wenham varsity boys’ team...next