Dad gets tattoo that looks like his son’s surgery scar
One’s a real scar. One is a tattoo to show support and make
his son feel normal. Father of the year, we think so!
Gabriel Marshall was left with a scar on the right side of his head after undergoing brain surgery.
In order to boost his confidence, his dad, Josh, had a replica of the scar tattooed on his own head, Mashable reported.
Josh shared an image of himself and his son posing and the image gained massive likes from the internet.
He has now even earned himself the title of Best Bald Dad of 2016 from the St. Baldricks Foundation. “I would like to thank everyone for helping make this happen it's an honor to be titled 2016's#BestBaldDad but the truth is I'm no better then any of the other contestants we are all great father's that would go to any extent to help our children so in my eyes we're all winners!”
This story so touched my heart and reminded me of friends of ours who rallied around their special treasure to show their unity, support, and solidarity.
This is Colby's story:
Colby’s journey started in November 2007 when he fell from a tree at pre-school. For eight weeks specialists treated him for a concussion. On the 18th January 2008 I had no choice but to take our pediatrician, Dr J Egner at St Augustine’s hostage in his offices and plead for help. Colby at this stage was vomiting and collapsing up to four times a day and as a mother I knew something was wrong. Dr Egner authorized a CT scan on Saturday 19th and on Monday the 21st we received a call to say they had detected abnormalities. Dr Egner gave us all the details he could but referred us to the Neuro Surgeon in St Augustine’s, Dr G Fuller.
Dr Fuller explained Colby’s pressing situation to us and advised that he would operate and remove the tumor on Wednesday 23rd January or unfortunately by Friday 25th January we may need to arrange a funeral as the tumor was a 5th of the size of Colby’s brain. What a daunting thought that we as parents now had to go home and explain to our (then) 6yr old son that “he was ill and the doctors needed to cut the bad piece of his brain out”. No parent should ever have to do this!
Colby was prepared and taken to surgery at 7am on 23rd January. He was in theatre for just under 5 hours.
Where he should have been hospitalized for 6 weeks, after just 13 days Colby walked out of St Augustine’s hospital.
Unfortunately after nine months the MRI scan revealed that Colby had a 2nd brain tumor. We were referred to an Oncologist, Dr R Callaghan at Parklands hospital. Dr Callaghan suggested Stereotactic Radio Surgery which was scheduled for 21st October 2008.
This surgery was a once off treatment where the success of the treatment could only be seen at up to 12 months post surgery. After numerous MRI scan and Colby’s tumor shrinking then growing, it was decided in December 2010 that the Neuro Surgeon, Dr Fuller would surgically remove the tumor on the 19th January 2011.
Colby was prepared and taken to theatre at 7am on the 19th January. The surgery took just under 4 hours.
Through will and determination, Colby walked out of St. Augustine’s hospital after 6 days.
Unfortunately at the 6 week post surgery MRI scan a 3rd more aggressive tumor was detected. It was decided by Dr Fuller and Dr Callaghan that Colby would undergo Stereotactic Radio Surgery again. There are many more side effects that could occur with a second treatment of this nature from loss of sight to loss of motor skills.
The Stereotactic Radio Surgery is not painful but he side effects are the same as chemo treatments, with nausea, vomiting and migraines. The procedure is uncomfortable as you head is literally clamped to a table to prevent it from moving an millimeter during the treatment.
Again defying what the laws of medicine depict, Colby has to date experience none of these side effects.
Over the years since 2012 Colby has received results as if we are on a roller coaster. Every six months a full MRI Scan is done to check on the tumor that is still there.
Over the past 4 years Colby has had two results that show his tumor has shrunk by 2mm, other than those two wins, the usual result is that the tumor is still there and thankfully not grown.
Brad, Colby’s step-dad, did the same thing for Colby just like Josh did for his son when he was six... Brad and his Safety and Security Team from the Dusi Canoe Committee shaved their heads bald so they would look like Colby too.
