After recovering from a bout of childhood chicken pox, Keenan Patton felt something on his face—a keloid, a growth of extra scar tissue where skin has healed after an injury. He had developed it, in part, by scratching his rash. Over the years, more of these hard, bulbous bumps grew and when he hit high school, he said it was “horrendous.”

Patton, 32, described the experience. “Just walking to school, going into the school yard, everybody stopping and staring and pointing, like, ‘Eww, he looks gross,'” he says.

Several surgeries and cryotherapy didn’t help, and even caused the legions to grow back larger. Finally, after researching his options, Patton discovered a doctor named Michael Jones, who had been performing a type of treatment called Superficial Radiotherapy (SRT-100). Paired with surgery, the treatment uses low-dose radiation to destroy basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, as well as the non-malignant tumor cells that cause keloids. With SRT 100, in almost all cases, the keloids never return.

The problem for Patton was that the treatment would cost him $25,000, and he would need to travel from Chicago to Jones’ office in New York City. He was unemployed at them time, and his insurance wouldn’t cover the surgery.

Feeling defeated, he turned to the Internet for help. A year ago, Patton launched a fundraising campaign. In a video, he explains how his keloids had become a health hazard, and demonstrated how he had to express the foul-smelling pus every day so it wouldn’t drain on his clothing. (Warning: May not be suitable for the squeamish.)

Redditors poured out support and Patton surpassed his $25,000 goal, reaching $31,900.

Now, Patton has an update. With the funds, he’s able to undergo the procedure. He posted a photograph of the progress on Facebook. One side of his face has been treated.

Redditors were happy to see the results.

Patton tells Upvoted, “I’m very excited and inspired to be able to go through this process and finally bring this particular chapter in my life to a close, but also be able to open up a new chapter in helping others. At one point in my life, I didn’t think or believe that I would be able to get this situation taken care of or rectified. I thought I was cursed. In the midst of it all, it was more a test of my will, intelligence and faith.

“I’m very glad that the Internet community was able to reach out and see a story of someone suffering and were able to help, assist and donate as much as they did. It let me know and see that there are caring people out in this world who are willing to wish you well, as well as see the process and progression of everything you go through on a day-to-day basis.”

Patton says he has a couple more surgeries left to go.