At just seven years old, Carter Gentle has undergone five open-heart operations due to a heart defect he was born with.
But his most recent operation - an emergency procedure to remove his pace maker - left him with a scar that made him cry.
Thankfully, the good people of the internet have rallied around to tell Carter he is not only brave, but absolutely beautiful.
Carter's dad, Mark Gentle, took the below picture of his son and uploaded it to Facebook on Saturday.
"Carter took his bandages off this morning. He cried for 45 minutes when he saw his scars," Gentle's post reads.
"He said that he's afraid people will think he is ugly. This was hard to hear as a parent. We told him that his scars are beautiful and make him look like a superhero. How many likes can Carter get for his bravery?!"
Since then, the picture has gained over one million likes on Facebook, with thousands of people commenting on the post to show their support for Carter.
As the likes kept flooding in, Gentle turned up the volume on his phone so his son could hear them.
"He would look at me with these big eyes each time and say, 'Dad, is that for me again?' It's been a huge confidence booster and it has been therapeutic for Carter," Gentle told Today.com.
"His scars are what makes him, him. They show everybody what he's overcome and that he was stronger than the disease that tried to kill him.
"I've been able to explain to him that there's a lot of people that have a lot of scars, and that you need to be proud of your scars."
H/T: Today.com