Dad Spends More Than 30 Hours Getting Tattoo Of Son’s Birthmark To Help Him Feel Less Self-Conscious

Derek Prue Sr, from Stony Plain, Alberta, got the idea when he saw his son was becoming increasingly self-conscious about a brown birthmark on his torso.

He noticed the youngster had started refusing to take his shirt off at the swimming pool.

"I think he was maybe a little bit self conscious about it. I wanted to get the same thing so he wouldn't be the only one."

Derek visited Juicy Quill Tattoo to get his tatt, but got more than he bargained for when he realised what he thought would be a one session job would actually take 30 hours and nine sittings.

He said: "I thought it was going to be a one session kind of thing. But three hours turned into about 30 hours. So it's been a bit of a process.

"The first sitting, I think, was close to four hours. And I didn't really look to see what was going on. 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 with the outline'."

The pain was worth it though when he got to show the work off to Derek Jr on a recent visit to the swimming pool.

He said: "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."

In a clip of the moment, a delighted Derek Jr can be heard to say "That's cool!" when he sees his dad's matching marking.

Derek Jr is then encouraged to take his shirt off too so he can compare his birthmark with his dad's tattoo.

Father and son later returned to Juicy Quill Tattoo so tattoo artist Tony Gibert could see how his work matched up to the real birthmark.

Gibert said of the inspiring inking's effect on Derek Jr: "This is something that really affected his everyday life, giving him more confidence, letting him know he wasn't the only person with this big mark. Now it's forever.

"It's really cool to see him smile."