Joey looked at his chest after the operation and asked: ““Is this where they cut me to fix my heart?””. That question ended up giving his dad an idea.
The boy was only 3 years old when he underwent open-heart surgery at Leeds Children’s Hospital in England. He had been born with a rare condition called supravalvular aortic stenosis, which made it difficult for blood to flow through the aorta and forced doctors to intervene.
The operation left him with a scar about six inches long on his chest. And when Martin Watts saw that his son was starting to notice the mark, he decided to get a tattoo just like it, the same size and in the same place.
The idea wasn’t to hide the scar, but to do exactly the opposite: so Joey could see it as a sign of everything he had overcome.
The family also joined the #ScarSelfie campaign, launched by the hospital to encourage children and adults who had undergone heart surgery to show their scars with pride. Joey’s mom, Leanne, explained that they wanted to help other children feel less alone and raise awareness about this kind of surgery.
At home, the experience also had an even more personal meaning: another of their children, Harley, had been diagnosed with the same condition and would also have to face an operation in the future.
What began as a tattoo to support one child ended up becoming a message for many more: a scar can also tell the story of how you made it through.