Man Whose Face Was Chewed Off Looks Towards Future With Optimism

I was truly humbled and impressed by the victim of the macabre face-chewing attack, Ronald Poppo. You may recall that about a year ago, a man who was high on so-called "bath salts" attacked another man and chewed his face for 18 minutes before police shot him to stop the gruesome assault. Poppo had nearly 75% of his face chewed off, including his nose, mouth, and eyes.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable attack, Poppo was recently interviewed at the Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Center where he has been recovering since last year. He seems supernaturally accepting of his situation, and was recently photographed strumming a guitar on a hospital bed. Poppo's road to recovery has been long, to say the least since his eyes were literally chewed apart, leaving him blind. He has worked with an occupational therapist for the past year to learn basic skills such as getting dressed, feeding himself, showering and shaving.

Poppo has undergone several reconstructive surgeries on his face, but still looks shocking. However, he is not interested in any more plastic surgeries, he says; nor is he interested in wearing a prostheses to cover his face or lack of eyeballs. His attitude astounds me when so many people complain about the most trivial problems, and he is faced with life-altering and extreme circumstances. What's even more incredible is that Poppo hasn't had an easy life, even before the attack. Instead, prior to the attack he spent years homeless and it was his vulnerability of being out in the open that made him an easy target for the bath salt attacker. Nevertheless, Poppo's story demonstrates the resiliency of the human spirit and inspires all who face troubling circumstances.

On another note, this story also highlights the growing and serious problem of bath salts. I've written several blogs on the danger of bath salts and the fact that many users believe they aren't that dangerous. Hopefully, this attack will show how dangerous they are, particularly since this isn't the first gruesome incident that has occurred while someone was high on bath salts.