A View From The Floor

Every year, more than 500,000 people suffer strokes in the United States. It is the number 3 cause of death after heart disease and cancer. The lucky survivors of strokes often face debilitating disabilities. This is the story of one such survivor.

In 1997, Riley Jackson suffered a series of debilitating strokes. The third one got him. It left him unconscious, alone on the kitchen floor of his coffee farm in Costa Rica. Without the use of his body, and unable to call for help, Riley first comes to terms with the cockroaches he thinks are going to attack him and slowly comes to terms with what has happened to his body. With unflinching stupidity and humorous candor, Riley Jackson carries us with him as he navigates through the challenges of foreign hospitals, airline travel and bureaucratic red tape. Armed with an overly optimistic assessment of his chances for recovery and a quirky sense of humor, Riley emerges to find his devastating personal tragedy transformed into a spiritual awakening that completely renews his love of life. Join him in this retelling of his chaotic journey.

Riley Jackson was born in California, lived in Oregon and now resides in Bainbridge Iland, Washington. He is living proof that you should pay attention in high school because when he was released from high school he joined the Army during the Korean War. Not one of his brightest moves. He ended up spending most of his three years of active duty in Africa, which is the setting for his next book.

After the service, Riley made his living as a jack of all trades before heading to college for an actual degree. just a few of the jobs that he held include singing, baking donuts, working in a dairy and making pizzas.

Riley graduated from UCSB and accepted his first legitimate job as a systems engineer with RCA systems division. He spent thirty years in the computer industry and a marriage. To celebrate the end of those endeavors, he bought a small coffee farm in Costa Rica where this novel starts.

Riley currently lives with the only female in his life, Duchess, a white basset hound. She loves him very much but also drools continuously, sleeps twenty-three out of twenty-four hours a day, and knows more people than Riley does. She is the love of his life and a complete party animal.