In a powerful demonstration of the Father’s love, John Marshall got a tattoo to match the scar left from his eight-year-old son’s cancer surgery.
Little Gabriel Marshall was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer called anaplastic astrocytoma last year. A surgery to remove the tumor left him without hair and a scar on the right side of his head, according to his father.
“My son was very self-conscious after he got his surgery. He felt like a monster,” Marshall told ABC News.
A few months after the surgery, Marshall made a remarkable decision motivated by fatherly love: to get a tattoo imitating his son’s scar. “I said, ‘You know what, I’ll get your scar tattooed. That way, if people want to stare at you, then they can stare at both of us.’”
When Gabriel saw the tattoo on his father he was elated and now tells everyone he and his father are like twins, according to ABC.
The elder Marshall’s choice not only heightened his son’s self-assurance, but also gained further recognition after dad entered a photo of the two in the St. Baldrick Foundation’s #BestBaldDad competition, in which fathers who shaved their heads in support of kids with cancer submitted photo entries.
Attached to their photo were these words: “Me and my son at this year’s St. Baldrick’s event in Wichita, Kansas. Got my son’s scar tattooed to help his self-confidence.”
Marshall and his son won first place after they received more than 5,000 votes, according to ABC.
“I never intended for it to be this big,” he told ABC. “It was just a friendly competition between fellow cancer dads and people showing support for their loved ones who have fought cancer.”
Although a tiny portion of Gabriel’s tumor remains, it has not increased in size. He receives scans every three months, and will have another MRI next week.
Marshall was grateful for the outpouring he’s received. “It’s amazing,” he told ABC. “I’m glad that I can kind of spread awareness for the childhood cancer community.”
KINDLY SHARE THIS
Logging you in...