A young cancer survivor from Argentina recently surprised the doctor he credits for saving his life with a very unusual display of gratitude – a large back tattoo of the surgical oncologist next to the hospital he works at.

A few months ago, Nano Salguero, a native of Alejo Ledesma, an Argentinian town located 333 kilometers southeast of the regional capital of Córdoba, was diagnosed with colon cancer by a local oncologist. He was  immediately referred to the Hospital de Clinicas in the regional capital for emergency surgery, where he was operated on by Dr. Paul Lada, a surgical oncologist with 42 years of experience under his belt. Nano’s operation was a success, and even though he is technically still in recovery, he recently showed his gratitude to Dr. Lada by sending him a photo of a large tattoo of his smiling face next to the hospital he works at that he had inked on his back.

“He literally saved my life, I had internal pains, it was a rectal surgery, for colon cancer,” Nano justified his decision to get the tattoo. “I went into the hospital with the worst of my life and walked out with the best.”

The young cancer survivor said that he decided to get Dr. Lada’s face tattooed on his back both out of admiration for his ability to “work with love” and gratitude for having saved his life. However he clarified that he got the tattoo for himself, not for the doctor. In fact, he hadn’t even planned on showing the inking to the oncologist, but after that his birthday was coming up, he decided to send him a photo.

 

Dr. Lada was obviously surprised, saying that this is the first time any of his patients got his face tattooed on their body – that he knows of, anyway – in over 43 years of service. The humble doctor also pointed out that he can’t take all the credit for helping nano, saying that there are many people who work alongside him to make the situation for patients easier to bear, residents, general practitioners, nurses, etc..