Miami face-eating attack victim Ronald Poppo after surgery: ‘Go Heat’
Because of Rudy Eugene, Ronald Poppo will never live a normal life again. Poppo is the 65-year-old homeless victim of Eugene that had roughly 80% of his face brutally chewed off during a May 26 attack. Eugene was shot and killed by police officers (after he reportedly growled at them), and Poppo has been in the hospital undergoing various surgeries and treatments since the attack. On Tuesday, doctors said Poppo was awake and talking but cannot see and has a long way to go in his recovery.
According to the Twitter account for the Jackson Health System in Miami (via Gawker), one of the doctors visited with Poppo on Tuesday and the victim had a message for LeBron James and company.
Dr. Namias says he visited Mr. Poppo this morning and he had a message for everyone: “Go Heat!”
— JacksonHealthSystem (@jhsmiami) June 12, 2012
LeBron admitted earlier this week that he let his teammates down in the Finals last season, but it’s tough to imagine he has ever been more motivated than he is this season. When you combine his two NBA Finals failures with the fact that a man who had nearly his entirely face eaten off by another human being is still pulling for James, it seems like you have the ultimate recipe for success. Even if this guy did knock Eugene out a few years back, it sounds like the Heat have the best chance of cheering Poppo up over the next couple of weeks.