After his son underwent life-saving heart surgery which left with him with a large scar, one father has shown his love and support in the best way possible and emblazoned a tattoo on his chest to perfectly match his son’s same permanent mark, People reported.
Joey Watts was diagnosed with a serious heart defect just 14 weeks after he was born.
His condition, known as supravalvular aortic stenosis , is a defect that develops while the child is still inside the womb and causes a section of the aorta to narrow, just above the valve that connects the aorta to the heart.
RELATED STORIES
While the severity of the condition differs from person to person, some sufferers of the defect die in infancy.
The now 6-year-old Joey had to recently undergo serious heart surgery in an effort to widen that seriously narrowed valve.
This vale is what carries blood to the heart and to the rest of the body, so it was definitely a risky and life-saving operation.
On May 23, Joey went under the knife at Leeds Children’s Hospital in England for an eight hour procedure.
Following the surgery, Joey was left with a 3.5 inch-long scar in the very middle of his chest.
“It’s not easy for a 6-year-old boy or any child of any age to have that type of surgery,” Joey’s mother, Leanne Watts, said. “When Joey saw the scar, he just said, ‘Is this where they have cut me to fix my heart?’ We’ve told him it should be something to be proud of and he shouldn’t be ashamed by what has happened to him.”
Despite reassurance, Joey still appeared “upset and scared” about the after-effects of his surgery.
So, in an effort to not only comfort his son but also show him to feel pride in the incredible procedure he just successfully underwent, his father, 37-year-old Martin Watts, went out and got his own chest inked with Joey’s same surgery scar.
The proud dad now matches his son and can both bear their identical scars to the world together.
In an interview with the BBC , Martin said he hoped his son would recognize his scar as a good thing and that he would realize “there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Now, sporting his own tatted scar, Martin said he and Joey can go “through it together.”
“All of these warriors should be proud of their scars and all they achieve in life.”
Leanne Watts, Joey’s mother and Martin’s wife, told Leeds Live that their other son, 7-year-old Harley, has the same condition and will be undergoing his own heart surgery sometime this year.
She said she hopes the story of her husband’s kind act will encourage others to donate to the Leeds Children’s Heart Surgery Fund , which aims at raising money for the hospital’s heart surgery unit.
Leanne said she and Martin were told there was nothing that could be done for their sons when they were diagnosed.
“From when they were first born, they told me there was nothing they could do, we would just have to live with it,” she said. “I was told they could both pass away at any given point. Joey’s condition progressed rapidly. They said if we didn’t try something now the inevitable will be sooner rather than later.”
Although Joey is likely to face more surgeries in the future, his family is focusing on celebrating his currently surgical success.
“I thought superheroes wore capes,” Leanne said. “They don’t — they wear surgical scrubs and gowns.”
h/t: People
