Dad Of The Year Gets Tattoo To Match Son’s Cancer Scar

Josh Marshall, a dad from Wichita, Kansas, was understandably upset to hear that his 8-year-old son, who’d recently undergone surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor, was feeling self-conscious of the scar on his head.

Marshall said his heart broke when his son, Gabriel, told him his scar made him feel like a “monster.”

In an inspiring case of actions speaking louder than words, Marshall decided to go out and get a matching scar of his own. Marshall shaved his head and got a tattoo to mimic his son’s scar on the side of his head.

“I told him if people wanted to stare, they could stare at both of us,” Marshall told Buzzfeed.

The image of Marshall with his son, Gabriel, won him the St. Baldrick’s 2016 #BestBaldDad title. St. Baldrick’s is a childhood cancer charity that hosts a variety of head-shaving events each year to raise funds and help create solidarity with kids who’ve lost their hair from cancer treatment.

Marshall submitted the image of the father-son scars with the caption: “Me and my son at this year’s St. Baldrick’s event in Wichita, Kansas. Got my son’s scar tattooed to help his self confidence.”

Gabriel underwent surgery for anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare malignant brain tumor, in March 2015. While some of the tumor remains on his brain, Marshall reports that Gabriel is stable and has been treatment-free for nearly a year.