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16th Dec 2020

Dad gets son’s birthmark tattooed onto his body to help boost his self-esteem

A Canadian man - Derek Prue Sr - got a replica of his son's birthmark tattooed onto his body in order to help boost the child's self-esteem

Alex Roberts

‘Father of the Year Award’ goes to this man

A Canadian man got a replica of his son’s birthmark tattooed onto his body in order to help boost the child’s self-esteem.

Derek Prue Sr observed how his eight-year-old son Derek Jr was struggling with confidence issues. Derek Jr was born with a birthmark across his chest and abdomen region.

Prue Sr then took it upon himself to make amends. He spent over 30 hours getting a large replica of the birthmark tattooed onto his body – in exactly the same area as his son’s birthmark.

Derek Jr recalled the moment he saw the tattoo for the first time.

He said: “Me and my sisters played for a little while in the pool, and then my dad said ‘Derek, come over here, I want to show you something.’

“Then he took off his shirt and there was a huge tattoo of my birthmark there.”

Prue Sr. became visibly emotional when telling Reuters how the idea occurred.

“I knew he was self-conscious, and that made me want to show him he wasn’t the only one. We both have the same mark.

“It felt good to do it. It’s a long process to do it, I thought it was gonna be a few hours, but it was about 30.

“After maybe three or four hours, I said, ‘Are we almost done?’ Tony [the tattooist] was like, ‘Yeah, we’ve almost done the outline.'”

Derek Jr said it caught him by surprise – but he really appreciates his father’s efforts.

The eight-year-old said: “I was happy, and I was a little confused because I didn’t know that he was gonna do that.”

Prue Sr said: “I wanted to see his reaction. I wanted to see he was happy that I did it. Now we have the same marks for life.”

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