Father Gets Tattoo Matching His Little Son's Life-Saving Heart Surgery Scar

Martin Watts got a tattoo of a scar on his own chest to match his son's scar following life-saving open heart surgery.

Joey Watts, 6, was diagnosed with supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS) only 14 weeks after he was born, as reported by SWNS.

“All of these warriors should be proud of their scars and all they achieve in life.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, SVAS is a heart condition that develops before birth. It causes "the narrowing of the large blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body."

On May 23, Joey underwent an eight-hour operation at Leeds Children’s Hospital in England. After the successful surgery, the young boy went through about a week in the hospital recuperating. He was left with a huge scar right down the center of his chest.

His doting father, Martin, then went to the tattoo parlor. He requested a 3.5-inch scar to be inked on his chest so he could match his child's scar. He just proved that no love is greater than that of a father for his son.

In an interview with Leeds Live, Leanne Watts, Martin's wife, said:

“All of these warriors should be proud of their scars and all they achieve in life."

"We have another little boy called Harley with the same condition who will also be having surgery in the near future. So to us this is an amazing thing to do to spread awareness, and maybe encourage a few more people help to fundraise for such a fantastic cause."

Martin told the news outlet that he additionally had a heartbeat tattoo written on his chest to help bring issues to light for the Leeds Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF).

CHSF helps raise money for the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit.

Leanne told SWNS: “From when they were first born, they told me there was nothing they could do, we would just have to live with it."

“I was told they could both pass away at any given point. Joey’s condition progressed rapidly. They said if we didn’t try something now the inevitable will be sooner rather than later.”

While Joey will probably have more procedures later on, for the meantime, the family is thrilled their kid is one more step along in his treatment.