Web falls in love with "ridiculously good-looking surgery baby"

This photo of Joey Powling of Dracut, Mass. was taken five days after he had open heart surgery to repair a heart defect that he was born with. / Reddit/goingTofu

A photogenic 3-month-old boy who was captured on camera after his open heart surgery has melted the hearts of online users.

Joey Powling of Dracut, Mass. was born with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), his uncle Dan Phelps wrote in an article for the Lowell Sun. TOF is a heart defect present at birth that causes low oxygen levels in the blood due to a ventricular septal defect (a hole between the right and the left and right ventricles); narrowing of the pulmonary outflow tract (the valve and artery that connect the heart with lungs); a shifted aorta (an artery which carries blood to the body) and a thickened right ventricle wall.

Symptoms include a bluish-purple color of the skin especially when the baby is upset, clubbed fingers, difficulty feeding, passing out and failure to gain weight. Though rare, it is the most common form of cyanotic congenital heart disease in children.

Joey's parents, Sarah and Joe Sr., discovered he had the defect while Sarah was pregnant. Doctors advised that he would need open-heart surgery at 3 months, and the procedure was performed on Oct. 25 at Boston Children's Hospital. The famous photo was snapped five days after the surgery.

"I started taking the picture and Joe was next to him playing with him and all of a sudden Joey started smiling with this big huge smile and I thought, 'Whoa this is a cool picture,'" Sarah told CBS station WBZ in Boston.

She posted the photo on her Facebook, and her brother, Matt Tassone, posted the picture on Reddit. He titled the thread, "My three month old nephew just had open heart surgery. Chicks dig scars, right?"

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Some of the comments are stories of how redditors got their own personal heart surgery scars or tales of people they have known who have gone through similar procedures.

"My brother (who is in his late 20s now) had open heart surgery at 4, numerous allergies and hideously bad asthma as a kid," user LadyGrizabella wrote on Reddit. "Mom told him 'No no don't do that! It's dangerous! You're too sick to do that!' more times than I can count as a kid.You know what he does now? He's a wildman, living in the woods (works for the US Forestry Dept) and is currently enrolled in training to become one of those dudes who leaps out of helicopters to put out forest fires."

"As a 24 year old who has had that exact scar since I was four(born with a heart murmur) I can safely tell you that, yes, chicks love scars," user LikeGoldAndFaceted added on Reddit. "Every girlfriend I've had has said they like it and think it's cool and sexy."

His parents hope that Joey's positive attitude can help bring awareness to childhood heart defects and inspire others.

"Just the fact that he's happy, with everything going on, being away from his own environment, having that scar, and he really could care less," said Joe said to WBZ.

[livewire78]

My youngest son who is now 26 yrs. old was born with Tetralogy of Fallot. At 6 months of age he was the youngest infant that had a total repair. Unfortunately, we were not told that MAYBE in the future he would have to have his pulmonary valve replaced. That day has not arrived, Thank God. Two fantastic surgeons were making a miracle for over 7 hours. Afterwords, we treated him as his brothers. Never holding him back. He even played hockey on a team in Michigan. I , honestly, believe in serendipity. He was having a heart cath and the cardiologist ran into some grave problems. The bad news was he had to have surgery immediately.The good news was there wasn't an operating room available until we received word that the young boy who was scheduled for the next day came down with chicken pox and Kevin took his place. God works in mysterious ways. One thing that I NEED to say is Give to the RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE. IT WAS OUR HOME FOR OUR 2 SONS,HUSBAND AND ME. It enabled us to be near for our son. If you remember what was called a BLUE BABY. This is what these infants are who have TOF. Now they can operate on them after their birth. Miracles do happen! Jan

[CorbinsHeart]

I just want to say THANK YOU for including the signs of a possible heart defect. Heart defects affect 1 in 100 babies and it is SO important for parents to know that!
I love the smile on this baby, and being a heart mom myself, I know how hard it is to watch your son go through heart surgery. My son sadly passed away after his third surgery, but his legacy continues on through a bill here in WV that requires all newborns to be screened for heart defects using pulse ox. (thecorbinstory.blogspot.com).
Thank you CBS for sharing this!!

[KristineBrite]

Thank you, thank you, thank you CBS News for including the signs and symptoms of CHD in this article about this little sweetie. It varies by where you live, but only about half of children are detected before birth, so those signs and symptoms are truly life saving! Also life saving? Pulse oximetry screening for CHD. It might have saved my daughter, but we'll never know because she died unexpectedly in my arms of congenital heart defects. Huge kudos to you!!