He added: “It’s fabulous because it’s showing that I have still got a smile. I couldn’t get smile before because I had nothing to smile about.
“With the prosthetic, it’s back to where people can see the person you are instead of, for want of a better word, a freak, because that’s how you feel.”
As part of the study, the patients’ portraits were painted to help convey the physical and psychological impacts of their treatment.
Following the scheme, run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Leeds, the artworks have gone on display in the Bexley Wing at St James’s University Hospital.
Artist Alison Murdoch said painting Mr Fahey’s portrait had been “life-changing”.
“When he first walked in he was all wrapped up, virtually disguised with glasses, hat, mask,” she said.
“He actually asked me if it was OK to take those items off, and that’s when it hit me what his reality was.”
