PSN Community Spotlight

Thanks for checking out this week’s PSN Community Spotlight. This is your chance to share your story on the PlayStation Community Forums, while snagging a $50 PlayStation Store voucher if your post is selected.

This week’s story comes from PSN member jackwesten. His story shows that sometimes, you have to take a step back and be thankful for the things you have. In his moments of adversity, he was able to turn to PlayStation to help his friend JT.

PlayStation Helps

To understand the significance of my story I first must begin by saying that I have been playing video games for most of my life. Video games have been one of the things that helped me relate to my friends. Whether we were talking about Pokémon in elementary school or discussing Metal Gear Solid as time went on.

My best friend JT, was the kind of guy who could be playing Resident Evil one minute and then be ready to go out and climb a tree that was ridiculously tall. JT was the bravest person I knew, he wasn’t afraid of anything, and was always up to something to challenge. Though he enjoyed video games you could usually find him outside. I had known him since I was four years old and over my lifetime he was always a great person to talk to and willing to help a friend. We were pretty much inseparable.

My conversion to PlayStation as a major follower was caused by him. I had a PS One but lost it when a friend borrowed it and moved away. So for the most part I had a Nintendo GameCube and JT had a PS2. One day we borrowed each other’s consoles and I deeply enjoyed the time I had with it. While he was playing things like Super Smash Brothers, I was experiencing Metal Gear Solid 3 and Star Wars Battlefront 2 for the first time. It amazed me! This would later influence my decision into getting the PS3 and to buying my own PS2. When I did get a PS3 he helped me discover Uncharted, which was and still is my favorite game series of all time. Overall he helped me gain a new appreciation for PlayStation.

So JT was my rock, he was the friend that I went to when I needed to talk. He was the friend that got me into PlayStation. He was the friend that made my life more interesting. In truthfulness he was a brother to me. In 2008 after we graduated high school I received the worst news I had experienced. I was 800 miles away in my birth state visiting my dad in Delaware. A typical call to let him know that I was coming back in a couple of weeks and that I would be back in time for us to see The Dark Knight was uneasily silent.

“David, I have Cancer.”
“What? You’re joking right?”
“No.”

The conversation didn’t go on very much longer. In the summer of 2009 we received news that all of the cancer was gone. In the fall of 2009 he was hospitalized and discovered the cancer had spread and that there was no way to operate on it. The doctors said that maybe treatment could help it get to a more manageable point. I quit my job that fall so that I could make sure I would get the time off to see him. He was my best friend and I wanted to be there for him, like he was always there for me. In 2010 they said that they couldn’t do anything for him, and by that summer he had passed away.

Me (front left) and my friends keeping JT (rear left) company while playing games.

I miss him and probably always will. What does this have to do with PlayStation? More important than him helping me find a joy for it, it was a joy to us all when he was having treatment and couldn’t go out a lot. We used to play games like Little Big Planet and Resident Evil 5 together. We would watch movies together on the PS3. Where in the past we would go see a movie, or walk out to the old bat tree at midnight and look at the bats hanging in the tree, we still found something to enjoy. PlayStation had given me a way to connect with him and to see joy on his face during one of the worst times in my life. It was a light in a dark time, and to this day helps me remember my friend JT fondly. Here’s to JT.

Thanks again for sharing your story, jackwesten. It’s an incredibly tough thing to go through the death of a loved one, but you seem to have the right attitude about it all, carrying a positive message about JT.
For everyone else, you’re welcome to read the original submission here.