Derek Prue was born with an angioma, a large “port wine” stain on his chest. At eight years old, he is so embarrassed by this distinctive oversized brand that he even covers it up when he takes a dip in the pool. In view of how bad his son was having, his father decided to get an equal tattoo to show solidarity with him. It was 30 hours of pain , according to his tattoo artist, to show him that he is not the only one.
It is undoubtedly an example that the love of a father has no limits.
“I didn’t want him to be the only one with the stain”
Little Derek tells in an interview with the CBC of Canada, that he was playing with his sisters in a hotel pool, when his father called him from the edge.
He assures that he leaned out and fell back into the water when he saw that his father had a replica of his stain on his chest, exactly like hers: “I was happy and a little confused. I didn’t know I was going to do it.”
His father explains that he decided to get the tattoo after noticing that his son insisted on wearing a shirt even in the pool. He gets emotional at the thought of his son’s embarrassment, so he wished that “he wasn’t the only one.”
Little Derek adds that it seemed strange to him that his mother took a photo of his birthmark, but he did not imagine its purpose.
30 hours and a lot of pain to show solidarity with the child
The tattoo artist who was in charge of reproducing the angioma assures that “it is quite painful”, since it is an area of the body with many nerve endings.
This is also witnessed by the protagonist of this beautiful act of paternal love:
“I remember the first time I went in, I went to bed and after three or four hours, I thought, ‘Yeah, are we almost done?’ And the tattoo artist said, ‘Yeah, we’ve almost finished the sketch’. “
Now he admits that he is glad he did not know from the beginning that it would take him 30 hours to achieve his goal, over six or eight weeks.
The same tattoo artist assured in the CBC that “it is incredible to be able to comfort your son in that way.” For this reason, he only charged him four hours of work, because he assures that “to draw a smile on a child’s face should not cost you an arm and a leg”.
For him it is enough to have helped this family and make little Derek “feel more secure and happy.”
In fact, he has already assured his mother that he will remove his shirt when his father is with him. For the father, it is a sufficient reward for his efforts: “Now we both have the same permanent marks.”
What is a hemangioma or angioma?
Hemangiomas are caused by the dilation of the blood vessels in the most superficial layers of the skin, which have grown more than normal. The baby can be born with this spot (popularly known as “craving”) although as a general rule they are usually visible later.
It can affect 10% of children under one year of age and, although they tend to scare parents, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics assures that only in 1% of cases they can pose a danger , although they do cause local complications in its growth phase, especially large facial hemangiomas.
They require frequent control by the pediatrician, of the color and size of the stain in case it could change its appearance, but most of them reduce over time until they disappear completely.
A special type of angioma or flat hemangioma are “port wine” type spots because of their particular dark red or purple color. They are large and smooth areas of the skin of irregular shapes caused by an excess of blood vessels under the skin. These spots do not disappear without treatment. They can be removed by a plastic surgeon or pediatric dermatologist when the child is older. This is Derek’s angioma (and now his dad’s too).
Via | CBC Canada
In Babies and More | Her mother asks to see the precious baby behind the hemangioma, A very special gift: her mother creates a doll just like her to help her normalize her hemangioma
