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Survivor Story
A Q&A with Richard Horton
Occupation: Insurance broker, founder of Stroke Hope
In August 2011, while preparing to close a big sale, Horton climbed out of bed and walked into the bedroom wall. He was having a stroke. During a hospital stay that lasted over two months, Horton, who was then 55, had a second stroke. He couldn’t walk, talk, or use his left arm. After his experience, he founded Hope for Stroke, a nonprofit that fights for stroke awareness.
Q: What was life like before the stroke?
RH: For 30 years, actually 33 years, I've been a life insurance broker. So it is what I'm doing now. I was very much involved in community activities and things that went on in the community, strong family connection, connected with several ministries in the area.
Q: Describe the day that it happened.
RH: I got out of the bed to use the bathroom. When I got out of the bed I walked into the wall, but I went ahead and did what I needed to do. (Note: He described that his vision was slightly impaired by “floaties”).
Again, I woke up to these conditions around six o'clock in the morning, but I didn't get to the ER until about four or five o'clock in the afternoon because there was a thing that I needed to do.
When I got to the ER, they took me in and everybody was running around and they said, “Well, looks like you've had a stroke.” And one thing led to another and they admitted me. Overnight my functions outside of my body went from about 25% less movement to zero. So I had no more feeling in my hand, my arm, my left leg.
Q: Describe the challenges that it left you with, and how did you deal with them.
RH: If you consider the fact that I couldn’t walk or use my arm at all, I’ve done pretty good. I consistently worked on my recovery, sometimes I walk with a cane. My left arm hasn’t recovered 100 percent but I do use it as often as I use my right hand. It’s an ongoing
challenge because sometimes it’s more impaired than others. For the most part, I continue to eat right and exercise as much as I can.
Q: How did this experience lead to the creation of Hope for Stroke?
RH: We’ve done a 5K walk/run from 2014 to 2019 to raise stroke awareness. I did bring people out to a larger event to give them information on the conditions that lead to stroke and just to raise greater awareness. So that’s something we did for the last four or five
years leading up to Covid. In 2018 was the last year and we did great, great. We had a good turnout. It was our best year ever. We had about 350 people that showed up for that.
Q: What next?
RH: I'm looking at going back to do our next 5k in ’24. I'm wanting to do something creative, something more that brings in a greater network of people.
Editor’s note: To view part of his interview at AARP Magazine, click here
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