'Ridiculously Good-Looking Baby,' Joey Powling Jr., Has Over One Million Fans For His Post-Open Heart Surgery Photo
The Internet has its newest celebrity: Baby Joey Powling Jr., a three-month-old survivor of open heart surgery who has been dubbed "ridiculously good-looking baby" by his one million plus fans.
Baby Joey, who has been nicknamed "ridiculously good-looking surgery baby" and "baby Bruce Willis," survived open heart surgery after being diagnosed with a condition called tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). TOF is one of the most common cardiac deficiencies in children and causes a hole in the heart.
Joey received successful open heart surgery at the Boston Children's Hospital Oct. 25, at just three-months-old. That's when his mother Sarah took a photo of the baby post-surgery five days later, showing a giant scar extending from his neck to nearly his belly button.
His uncle, Matt Tassone, submitted Baby Joe's photo to Reddit with the caption, "My 3month-old nephew just had open heart surgery. Chicks dig scars, right?" catapulting the three-month-old to stardom.
Quickmeme.com was the first to call baby Joey "ridiculously good-looking surgery baby." Others followed suit and made various nicknames for Joey. The baby's great uncle, Dan Phelps, wrote an open essay for the Lowell Sun about baby Joey and some of his favorite comments on the photo.
That baby is manlier than me." "I didn't think I liked babies or had a biological clock. This pic has just complicated a lot for me. What a sweetheart."
"His expression ... 'Chill, I got this.' "The Successor to The Most Interesting Man Alive."
"What a legend."
According to the baby's grand uncle, baby Joe's parents are amused but hope to use their child's stardom for a good cause.
"Though amused with little Joey's sudden online fame and support, [his parents] Sarah and Joe also hope it translates into awareness of TOF. They are having bracelets made for TOF awareness that say 'Joey hearts you' and 'Don't turn blue, get a clue,' a reference to the fact that babies with TOF often experience extreme blue coloring," he said.
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