Back in March 2015, Gabriel Marshall was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare brain tumour.
Gabriel was just six years old.
Luckily, the little boy has since recovered. The golf ball-sized tumour was removed from his brain, and he has been out of treatment for over nine months now.
In fact, the only remaining sign that he ever had cancer is the scar on the right-side of his head.
Sadly, although the scar represents his brave battle with the big C, little Gabriel feels self-conscious about it. So much so that he told his dad it makes him feel like “a monster.”
Naturally, dad Josh was heartbroken to hear this, and decided to do something about it. So he went out and got himself a head tattoo to match Gabriel’s cancer scar.
“I told him if people wanted to stare, they could stare at both of us,” he told Buzzfeed.
After Josh shared a touching photo showing off their matching heads, the image won St Baldrick’s Foundation’s BestBaldDad competition. Taking place on Father’s Day each year, the contest aims to highlight fathers who’ve done something special to raise money for cancer research.
What a beautiful way to boost your child’s self-confidence, and to normalise scars which can negatively impact on people’s self-esteem. You go dad!
