Chace Selby was born with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). Related to this condition, the adorable youngster needs help getting enough nutrients to help him grow. The three-year-old doesn’t need any help with being adorable, though.
A G-Tube helps Chace grow.
“Some kids have medical problems that prevent them from being able to take adequate nutrition by mouth,” explains Kids Health.” A gastrostomy tube (also called a G-tube) is a tube inserted through the abdomen that delivers nutrition directly to the stomach. It’s one of the ways doctors can make sure kids with trouble eating get the fluid and calories they need to grow.”
“Fortunately,” the children’s medical welfare site continues, “a gastrostomy is a common procedure that takes only about 30 to 45 minutes. After spending 1 or 2 days in the hospital, kids who have had a gastrostomy can get back to their normal activities fairly quickly after the incision has healed.”
A natural star.
Chace’s father, Robert — sometimes Rosco — Selby, wants to make sure that his little boy doesn’t feel like he’s missing out on anything.
Robert and Chace document their adventures together on their own YouTube channel and Instagram account. The candid videos and thoughtful vlogs are intended to “Help Fight and Bring Awareness to CHD.” The charismatic Chace spreads that awareness wherever he goes.
“He goes into environments and he is always the center of attention because he’s so well-mannered,” Robert Selby told Today. “People gravitate toward him, and that’s just because he’s being him.”
Robert isn’t trying to slow the younger down anytime soon.
“[Chace] doesn’t know about his condition because I don’t treat him like he has a condition,” his father said. “I tell him he can do anything anybody else can do. Sports, gymnastics, anything. I tell him to never say you can’t.”
The picture seen ’round the world.
Chace “is sucking in his stomach, trying to show off his abs like his daddy but all you see are his little ribs,” wrote Robert Selby in a May 22, 2017, Instagram post. “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 (#chd) called Tetralogy of Fallot (#tof) and he uses a Feeding-Tube (#gtube) to help with him being underweight due to him not eating orally as much since he was a baby. But as long as I’m breathing, I’ll always support my son and he’ll never be in a fight alone. ”
Like father, like son.
“This was actually a picture from a year ago,” Robert would clarify in an interview with Today two days after posting the photo. “I did this same photo every year from when he was 6 months old, way back. Last year, he asked me, ‘Why do I have a G-tube?’ and I told him it’s because he’s so strong, because he’s Superman. He’s Super Chace. I told him he’s stronger than Daddy, and he said, ‘But you’re Super Dad,’ so I said OK, and I put a G-tube on me, too.”
The combination of Robert’s washboard abs, the adorableness of Chace, and the complete cuteness of the father’s act of solidarity has sent this image around the world through social media and news outlets.
“I’m excited and I’m happy,” Robert Selby said of the success. “I want to give people hope and be uplifting. When everything was going on with Chace, I went online and it helped to see other parents who had gone through similar situations and were doing OK, to see their sons and daughters who grew up to be married at 21, 22. So if I can help even just one person a day, I’m doing my job.”
Chance and Robert, you’ve brought a lot of attention to Congenital Heart Defects and you’ve delivered a boatload of smiles while you were at it. Keep up the great work!