Music Teaching Tips

It wasn't enough for Hopkins to simply survive the stroke. Two years ago, he wrote a curriculum for teaching piano to adults with limited physical abilities, including senior citizens and stroke survivors like himself.

So on Tuesday mornings, he sets up his keyboard in the lobby of the American Stroke Foundation building in Kansas City and works with a handful of clients.

"I think it's therapeutic for John to try to teach us, too," said Pat Collins, 54, one of his students and a fellow stroke survivor. "When we help other people, it sometimes takes your mind off what you can't do."

Hopkins' work has earned him a Warhol-like 15 minutes of fame. He's among a handful of stroke survivors featured on boxes of Oatmeal Crisp cereal that debuted nationwide this month.