A close-up photograph of Poppo showed the upper two-thirds of his face covered
in scabs and grafts.
“It’s hard when he smiles to see who he is,” said Wrood Kassira, a
University of Miami plastic surgeon at Jackson.
He also suffered two puncture wounds to his chest and a brain injury similar
to what happens after a car crash, Namias said.
Poppo previously survived a gunshot wound.
Social workers will help try to help him find a place to live. He has been
homeless for nearly 30 years, and he has faced multiple charges of public
intoxication, among other arrests. According to the Miami-Dade County
Homeless Trust, the last time Poppo sought help finding 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,” Kassira said.
“I’ve talked to him about reconstruction and he’s said we’ll take it one
day at a time,” Kassira said. “He’s very logical.”
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, Namias said.
The doctor said Poppo has not once complained about his pain.
“He’s really just sort of living in the moment and just wants to talk
about routine things,” he said.
Source: AP