A cellphone video of a Georgia dad doing his best to comfort his baby boy as he gets shots exploded on social media after the father posted the clip on Facebook days ago.
Lee was nervous about the appointment because he knew his boy was going to have a tough time.
“I felt kind of scared a little bit, I knew he was going to go through some pain,” Lee told People. “I had to figure out a way to comfort him, and the day before, I talked to him and said if he needed to cry, go ahead and cry. That morning when we got there, and I let him know again it was okay to cry.”
In the video, Lee holds his boy at the doctor’s office, keeping the wee boy entertained. When the nurse asks the dad to put the boy on the bed, Lee cradles the tiny babe in his hands and carries him to the bed.
The boy starts to get distressed, but the father gets his attention by holding the child’s tiny boy’s hand.
“I got you. I got you,” Lee said.
“Oh, you strong boy,” Lee said after the boy squeezes his finger.
Lee was so focused on helping his boy get through the ordeal that he didn’t notice that his girlfriend was recording him.
“I felt the pain he was going through!” Lee said of the ordeal. “At that moment, there was pressure, but at the same time, it was beautiful.”
The nurse then begins to give the boy shots.
“Oh man. Come on man. I feel you man,” the dad, clearly feeling the boy’s pain, said.
Lee then leans in close to the boy to comfort him and gives him a kiss.
Since being posted on Oct. 26, the video has been viewed almost 15 million times and shared almost 200,000 times.
Lee and Debias live in Warrenton, Georgia, a small city about 110 miles from Atlanta.
The simple moment of unfiltered emotion between father and son captured the hearts of millions. Their story has since been featured on national television and in newspapers.
Lee is using his newfound platform to promote the importance of fathers in children’s lives.
“I don’t care if you don’t like the mother of your child. Still, take care of your child,” Lee wrote on Facebook. “It’s hard for a woman to raise a child by herself. #BabiesLivesMatter”
“More than 20 million children live in a home without the physical presence of a father. Millions more have dads who are physically present, but emotionally absent. If it were classified as a disease, fatherlessness would be an epidemic worthy of attention as a national emergency,” Fathers.com says about the statistics.
“The impact of fatherlessness can be seen in our homes, schools, hospitals and prisons, as reflected in the above clip from the documentary film, Irreplaceable. In short, fatherlessness is associated with almost every societal ill facing our country’s children.”
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