Robert Selby posts about his adorable son Chace to raise awareness for his rare congenital heart defect
Seeing a topless selfie posted by a man with a rather chiselled body would normally make most people roll their eyes.
But Robert Selby's version of the photo may actually warm your heart.
No - not because his abs are VERY impressive (well, they are), but because of the reason behind it - and for his absolutely adorable son who also features in the pic.
Three-year-old Chace is the star of Robert's Instagram page, named The Life of Chace Elijah.
The dad from Virginia in the US posts about his son's condition, named Tetralogy of Fallot, to raise awareness for the defect which affects 3 to 6 per 10,000 births in the USA, according to CHD UK.
Chace, who cannot eat orally as a result of the condition, has a gastronomy tube (g-tube) to make sure he gets all the nutrients that he needs.
And Robert shared a photo of the pair taking a topless selfie in their mirror, with Chace's gastronomy tube (g-tube) visible to raise awareness.
Robert, who is separated from Chace's mum, lovingly stuck on one of his son's g-tubes to his own stomach, to show he wasn't alone.
N'aww!
The caption might make you well up: "My son is sucking in his stomach, trying to show off his abs like his daddy but all you see are his little ribs."
Robert, a part-time photographer, explains why he had a g-tube on his own stomach: "I just cut and glued one of his G-tube on me to show support for him and bring awareness. My son was born with a Congenital Heart Defect called Tetralogy of Fallot and he uses a Feeding-Tube to help with him being under weight due to him not eating orally as much since he was a baby."
It ends with an emotional line: "But as long as I'm breathing, I'll always support my son and he'll never be in a fight alone."
Robert shows how to replace his son's g-tube to keep him nourished (Credit: Instagram/ The Life Of Chace Elijah)
Robert also has a YouTube vlog dedicated to his son, on which he documents their lives that has had over 25,000 total views.
What is Tetralogy of Fallot?
The Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital's site on the NHS describes the condition as:
"Tetralogy of Fallot is a group of four structural abnormalities within the heart that occur together.
These are:
-
Pulmonary stenosis – a narrowing at, under or above the valve between the right pumping chamber (right ventricle) and the large blood vessel that carries blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen (pulmonary artery)
-
Ventricular septal defect – a hole between the right and left pumping chambers (ventricles)
-
Over-riding aorta – the entrance to the large blood vessel that takes blood away from the heart to the rest of the body (aorta) is next to the ventricular septal defect, allowing oxygen-poor blood to flow through it
-
Thick right ventricle – the heart has to work harder to pump blood through the narrowed pulmonary artery, causing the muscle to thicken."
But the condition doesn't seem to stop little Chace, who often joins his dad in the gym!
Little Chace helps his dad in the gym - what a cutie! (Credit: Instagram/ The Life Of Chace Elijah)
Good luck to the little man!
Do you or someone you know suffer from Tetralogy of Fallot? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter.
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