Despite losing eye... Jermaine Barrett happy after successful surgery

Despite losing eye ...

Jermaine Barrett, the young man who was suffering from a massive cancerous growth on his face for almost two years, is now overjoyed following the successful removal by a team of doctors in New York late last month.

Though 28-year-old Barrett lost his left eye in the procedure, he is still happy at the prospects of returning to a normal, tumour-free life, his older sister, Janisha Atkins explained.

"He's happy about the future. Initially, when he lost the eye, he was kind of sad, and he was so depressed. But he has a lot of support, so we talk to him and tell him 'Listen, look pon weh you a come from.' So, he's in a better place right now," she said.

Atkins noted that the doctors who treated Barrett at the Albany Medical Center in New York are proud of his progress following the two major surgeries that were done to remove the growth.

"He's walking outside, he's interacting, and he's eating slowly. Before that, all he had was food via a tube," Atkins said.

another surgery

Barrett, who hails from Montego Bay, St James, is still at the hospital recuperating and bracing for another surgery to reconstruct his face. That will be done in approximately seven months.

Atkins explained that her brother will be fitted with an artificial eye. She also noted that some other reconstructive work will be done to correct the skin that was left sagging following the removal of a part of his jawbone along with the tumour.

The news of Barrett's progress has brought great joy to his family.

"We are ecstatic. My mom, my sisters, my daughter, my son, they're all happy because they can talk to him now," Atkins explained, adding that the surgeries were turbulent.

"There was a lot of complications. They were finding stuff with his kidney, and there was a lot of bleeding in some places. So, it was like taking a step forward and then taking 10 steps backward. But everything is good now.

Barrett, who had worked as a chef before falling ill, previously told THE STAR that the tumour might have come about in 2008 when overseas doctors extracted his tooth at a free health fair in St James.