3-month-old open-heart surgery survivor becomes latest Internet sensation

3-month-old open-heart surgery survivor becomes latest Internet sensationThe 3-month-old baby boy Joey Powling Jr who recently survived open-heart surgery has become the latest sensation on the Internet; with the newborn’s post-surgery picture posted on Reddit garnering comments from people all over the world.

Joey’s post-operation photo – which was clicked by his mother Sarah Prowling; and posted to Reddit by Sarah’s brother Matt Tassone – has been viewed by over one million people worldwide; with comments galore on how ‘cute’ Joey is.

Tassone had posted Joey’s photo with the caption “ridiculously good-looking surgery baby;" and the comments from people around the world had Joey being described as “the baby Bruce Willis;” “a baby who is manlier than me;” and the “most interesting baby in the world.”

The photo posted on Reddit was clicked five days after Joey underwent open-heart surgery for a common heart defect in children - Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), which is commonly referred to as “a hole in the heart” – at Boston Children’s Hospital on October 30.

Explaining Joey’s TOF diagnosis, Joey’s uncle Dan Phelps said in an article for the Lowell Sun that Joey was diagnosed of the heart problem when his mother was pregnant; and the doctors had a plan in place “to deal with the problem.” The plan was to perform open-heart surgery to treat the illness when Joey became three months old --- a surgery after which the brave little boy came out smiling!