I remember reading 'Decartes Error' 20 years ago and the story of Phinn just stuck in my head.
FF
PS. I hope this is the pre-accident version of him!
I had an accident?
"Phineas P. Gage (July 9?, 1823 – May 21, 1860)[n 2] was an American railroad construction foreman now remembered for his improbable[n 3] survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior – effects so profound that friends saw him as "no longer Gage"."
Is that not where you got your alias from?