John Marshall received the worst possible news in March 2015. All parents dreaded its occurrence for their children.
Gabriel, his young son, was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare malignant brain tumor. In the subsequent months, Gabriel underwent treatments and invasive surgeries to rid himself of cancer.
And ultimately, the boy’s physicians had good news. They were able to contain his tumor. In recent exams, Gabriel’s condition remained stable despite the fact that he still had a portion of the tumor in his head, and it has been nine months since he last received treatment.
A large surgical scar, however, remains on the boy’s head to serve as a constant reminder of his ordeal.
Gabriel is so disturbed by this that he admitted to his father that it makes him feel “monster-like.” When John heard this, he decided to take action so that his son would not feel so isolated.
John told BuzzFeed that his heart was broken when his 8-year-old son Gabriel admitted that the scar on his head made him feel like a monster.
Gabriel will carry the scar for the rest of his life, despite the fact that the harsh treatments and invasive surgeries are over.
John then had a brilliant and heartwarming idea: he would get a tattoo that resembled his son’s scar.
John told BuzzFeed, “I told him if people wanted to stare, they could stare at both of us.”
The 28-year-old father participated in a competition called #Bestbalddad, sponsored by the St. Baldrick Foundation. It’s a contest in which fathers shave their heads in support of their children with or who have had cancer. John submitted a photograph of his tattoo.
John wrote in his application, “Got my son’s scar tattooed to help his self confidence,” And it struck a chord with the jury. The photograph won and has since been widely disseminated online.
“It was the first time we’ve seen an entry where a dad went above and beyond shaving his head in solidarity with his child and got a tattoo to build his son’s self-confidence,” Alison Sutton of the St. Baldrick Foundation told BuzzFeed