Normally, none of us have to experience open heart surgery until well after our adolescence and past when we are middle aged. But Carter Gentle, a seven year old from Farmington, Maine, has had five open heart operations.
Rather than let himself be defined by his scars, his father, Marc Gentle, wrote a heartfelt Facebook post after his son expressed fears that he would be perceived as ugly. But the immense outpouring of support has left quite the opposite impression, with over 1.5 million likes and over 110,000 shares at the time of writing.
#CHDAWARENESS We were a little apprehensive to post this but I feel it's important. Carter took his bandages off this…
Posted by Mark Gentle on Saturday, April 11, 2015
Carter’s most recent surgery was to repair a pacemaker that he has had all of his life, and left him with even more scarring, but his father has said via Facebook that he couldn’t be more proud of his sons resilience and that the likes, shares and comments on the Facebook post has given the both of them an immense confidence boost.
“His scars are what makes him, him. They show everybody what he’s overcome and that he was stronger than the disease that tried to kill him,”
Many times things go viral on social media for all the wrong reasons, but this is a great example of the power of social media being used for a great cause — to give a young child hope and support going forward.
