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Face-chewing victim Ronald Poppo is recovering from "zombie" attack in Miami, graphic photo
By jpuente in Technology Is Your Friend
June 12, 2012

[Warning: Graphic photo at the end of blog]

We all remember the homeless man whose face was mostly chewed off by a man who allegedly was on bath salts. (Graphic images in link.)

His name is Ronald Poppo and despite his left eye having to be removed, doctors report he is eating, walking and talking with the medical staff at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center.

Poppo is 65 years old and has been in the hospital since the attack on May 26. In addition to the upper two-thirds of his face being covered in skin grafts, he is also recovering from two puncture wounds to the chest and a brain injury.

Apparently, he has been homeless for nearly 30 years and previously survived a gunshot wound. The last recorded time Poppo looked for a place to sleep was in 2004.

"If he doesn't get his vision back then it becomes, is he concerned about how he looks or is it more about how the world sees him? Those are things to think about," said Wrood Kassira, a University of Miami plastic surgeon at Jackson.

AP reports, "Poppo has talked about swimming, which he used to enjoy, and he has requested pizza, orange juice and Italian food to eat. He's asked for the television to be turned off in his room, except to watch Miami Heat basketball games."