Courtesy Josh Marshall
Gabriel Marshall, now 8 years old when diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer called Anaplastic Astrocytoma in March 2015, left him bald with a scar on the right side of his head. Though the fight with cancer was over, but battle with self-consciousness started. Though he faced cancer with bravery but he was not able to fight the insecurities that followed as a big scar was left on his head and he felt like a monster, stated his father.
Marshall decided to get a tattoo to help his son gain his self confidence. “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.” said Marshall.
Gabriel is very happy now, and keep on telling people that he loves his dad’s tattoo, he and his father are like twins.
His small step to boost his son’s confidence has won the internet with pouring appreciations when he entered a picture to the St. Baldrick Foundation’s #BestBaldDad competition. This competition saw 55 dads who shaved their heads in support of their children with cancer.
Marshall and his son received more than 5,000 votes and won the first place.
Overwhelmed with the responses, he said “I never intended for it to be this big, it was just a friendly completion between cancer dads and people showing support for their loved ones who fought cancer.”
Gabriel is fine, though small portion of the tumor still remains. He receives scans once every three months, to monitor the growth of the tumour, said Marshell.
He is really happy that he spread awareness for the childhood cancer community by this incident.
