The scrawny homeless man whose face was partially chewed off by a crazed attacker last year has gained 50 pounds and is relearning the guitar, his doctors said Tuesday.
“I think he wants the world to know that he’s not traumatized by this, that he’s happy and grateful,” said Dr. Urmen Desai, Poppo’s plastic surgeon at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami.
AP
Undated photos made available by the Miami-Dade Police Dept. shows Rudy Eugene, 31 (left), who police shot and killed as he ate the face of Ronald Poppo, 65 (right) during a horrific attack on May 26, 2012.
Poppo became known to the world as a craggy, sunburnt, bearded man in a photo taken before he was attacked on Miami Beach’s MacArthur Causeway last May 26.
Ron Poppo, say his doctors, has gained 50 pounds over the past year and is relearning the guitar.
In a short video shown at Jackson Memorial Hospital, he wore a blue polo shirt and held a guitar.
UNCREDITED/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this image taken from video, Miami police officers stand watch near a naked man, second from right, who was shot dead by a police officer when he refused to stop chewing on the face of the naked man next to him, partially obscured by a railing, on the MacArthur Causeway ramp on May 26, 2012.
“Thank you,” he said.
Poppo is up to 200 pounds and is learning again to strum the guitar, which he played during his youth.
HANDOUT/GETTY IMAGES
In this undated handout image provided by Jackson Memorial Hospital, cannibal attack victim Ronald Poppo, 65, shows the extent of his injuries for the first time while still in the hospital. Poppo was viciously attacked by Rudy Eugene who chewed off a portion his face for reasons that remain unclear.
“He’s a wonderful person,” said his nursing assistant, Patricia Copalko, who sees him daily. “I couldn’t ask for a better patient.”
Ron Po
Although Poppo rarely ventures outside his room, he follows Miami Heat games avidly, she said. Hospital staff said he can remain in the Miami nursing facility “indefinitely.” He has refused additional reconstructive surgery and is learning to adjust to his blindness.
ALEXIA FODERE/FOR THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
From left: Drs. Urmen Desai (plastic surgery), Wrood Kassira (surgeon) and Renaud St.-Vil give an update on Ron Poppo at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital on Tuesday.
Once a student at the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York, Poppo reportedly became homeless after falling into drugs.
Poppo’s attacker, Rudy Eugene, 31, managed to gnaw off half of Poppo’s face before police shot and killed him. Marijuana was found in Eugene’s system. Police suspect other new, undetectable drugs were also present.
Ron Po
Ronald Poppo, a Florida homeless man who gained notoriety after attacker Rudy Eugene gnawed off half of his face before being shot and killed by police.
Read more: NY Daily News
I never knew the extent of this issue.Thank God is in d USA if na naija this man might have been long forgotten.
This man must be a devil, how can someone chew off his fellow human face, dis world is turning to sumtin else.
Over 2000 Nigerians