A father from Canada, Derek Prue Sr. got a huge tattoo identical to his son’s birthmark that covers a huge part of his chest. He endured 30 hours of pain to support his son and help bolster his confidence.
The idea of getting a tattoo replica popped into Prue’s head when he noticed that his 8-year-old son refused to take his shirt off in the swimming pool.
He realized that even his son had always been proud of his birthmark; he was starting to feel conscious about it as he ages.
Prue wanted to get the same birthmark as his son’s and the only thing that would make it possible was to get a tattoo. He secretly went to Juicy Quill Tattoo because he wanted to surprise his son.
Because the tattoo he wanted had to be an exact match of his son’s birthmark, they had to do it in nine sessions. Prue was surprised as he thought it could be finished in just one session.
“The first sitting, I think, was close to four hours. And I didn’t really look to see what was going on,” said Prue. “’So I thought at the end of four hours it was done. So I said, ‘Is it almost done?’ and he said, ‘I’m almost done the outline.”
It has been a bit of a process for Prue as well as painful experience. They had to give him a numbing treatment several times to help with pain management. Because of the size and the position of the birthmark he was trying to copy, he had to endure a lot of pain.
Tony Gibert, the tattoo artist, said that the pec area has very sensitive nerve endings which gave Prue so much discomfort and undesirable sensations.
Despite all the pain and long hours of waiting, Prue never felt discouraged. What mattered to him was to make his son happy and help bring back his self-confidence.
Prue didn’t show off his new tattoo to his son right away. “I just kind of took my shirt off. He was wearing his shirt.
I showed him that I had the exact same mark as him,” he said. As expected, his son was so happy to see it but also a little confused, not expecting his dad would do it.
In a video where Derek Jr. saw his dad’s tattoo, he can be heard saying, “that’s cool.” This time, without any hesitation, he took off his shirt and jumped in the swimming pool. Apparently, his Dad’s action changed his perspectives, which made him feel confident again.
After a while, Prue and his son paid Gibert a visit in Juicy Quill Tattoo so he could compare his incredible work. He was so happy about how things turned out for his customer and his son.
“I think it’s so amazing to be able to comfort your son like that. It’s more than just your kid seeing your name or something; you get to actually change the way he feels about himself,” GIbert said.
Now that they have the same marks for life, we hope that Derek Prue Jr will never feel alone again. May he always be confident and continue to appreciate his father’s sacrifices for him and his family.
Watch this video to see how Derek Rue Sr went above and beyond to help his son gain back his confidence: