A Survivor's Reflection of Purpose, Discovery, and Harmony After Right Hemisphere Stroke

Right hemisphere brain damage occurs in nearly 50% of stroke survivors in the United States. Despite the incidence and substantial challenges faced by right hemisphere stroke survivors, insights of poststroke experiences by clinicians, researchers, and other survivors are lacking. Survivors and their loved ones are often forced to grapple with how to manage both the overt and covert morbidity-driving deficits of language and cognition. In this viewpoint, Simon Barton provides an account of his poststroke journey to felicity with the development of the Folly Felicity Factor, a self-designed poststroke rating system of health, purpose, productivity, and temperament. Simon used the Folly Felicity Factor to quantify his state of being through a "realization period" and a "discovery period" of reinvention and created the Folly Felicity Factor Form.

This viewpoint draws on Simon's personal experience and tangible accomplishments while providing examples of how he, a right-hemisphere ischemic stroke survivor, transformed from a disgruntled former design engineer to a highly motivated and much happier published author. The Folly Felicity Factor Form is provided for consumer use and adaptation in clinical and research settings. Additional insights from survivors are needed to grasp the full extent of the impact of right hemisphere stroke and the resulting impairments on the lives of survivors and their loved ones.