Remember the homeless man whose face was chewed off in a bizarre cannibalism attack in Miami last year? He has made a remarkable recovery, and is now bravely showing what’s left of his face, saying he is already satisfied with the surgeries.

On May 26 of last year, Ronald Poppo, 65, was lying underneath at an elevated railway in Miami when a completely naked man named Rudy Eugene began beating him. Eugene stripped him of his pants and began biting his face. A passing cyclist saw the incident and alerted the Miami Police Department.

When the police came minutes later, they warned Eugene to stop attacking Poppo, but the perpetrator ignored the warning, growling at them before resuming biting Poppo. Eugene was shot several times before he went down.

Poppo, who has lost 80 per cent of his face during the attack, was then taken to the Jackson Memorial Hospital. He lost sight in both eyes after Eugene plucked out his eyes.

And now after almost a year, Poppo faced the camera to thank the public for their support.

The video, uploaded by the Jackson Health System on YouTube, sees him strumming on his guitar before pausing to thank everyone who helped him, saying, “I’ll always be thankful for that.”

He has been left permanently disfigured and blind by the attack that happened almost a year ago, but, according to AP, he told his doctors that he is not interested in undergoing additional surgeries to reconstruct his face.

According to the hospital’s Facebook page, he is now living happily and adjusting to his new life.

“In the past year, he has gained more than 50 pounds. He continues to work with an occupational therapist, who taught him how to dress himself, feed himself, shower and shave. He also was given a guitar, which he practices playing daily. He continues to see doctors at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Centre to treat his facial injuries.”

Poppo spoke to police in July, narrating what happened the night he was attacked. He said Eugene first approached him in a friendly manner, but their conversation turned sour when Eugene began speaking gibberish.

“He didn’t like the beach,” he told the detectives in a taped recording obtained by CBS Miami. “He said he wasn’t scoring there. He went to the [Miami] Beach to score or something.”

When asked what Eugene was saying when he attacked him, Poppo answered, “’You, me, buddy, and nobody else here.’ I’m gonna – gonna kill you.’ Or something like that, I guess.”

“He just started to scream. And was talking kind of funny talk for a while too.”

He also recalled how his attacked smashed his face into the sidewalk and how he plucked his eyes out.

“Mr. Eugene did not have any type of weapon. He did not use any weapon on me. He basically was using brute force.”

Eugene’s toxicology reports showed that he was positive for marijuana.

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