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How this tattoo artist pays it forward to help baby with medical condition

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Eastlake, OH — An Eastlake tattoo artist used his time and talents to help a five-month-old boy suffering from a very common, very treatable disorder.

“Well everyone thought it was his Halloween costume when he was wearing it cause he has an aviator jacket that he wore with it,” said Lauren Rowan of Perry.

It’s not a Halloween costume but a special cranial helmet that Talen Rowan is wearing. Talen suffers from Plagiocephaly which causes flat spots on his head. He has to wear the helmet for seven months.

“So we took him to specialists and they said this helmet was the right treatment for it. He’s gotta wear it 23 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Rowan.


The Rowan family was looking for an artist to customize Talen’s helmet so they posted an ad online and that’s when tattoo artist Greg Chadwick came forward and gave them a great offer.

“If I can make somebody’s day better, opening a door, saying something nice, I’m just doing what I do,” said Greg Chadwick of Eastlake, in an interview with WJW.

Chadwick spent more than 12 hours airbrushing Talen’s cranial helmet to look like an aviator helmet complete with goggles and Talen’s name on the back. Chadwick usually gets $100 an hour for his work at Iron Clad Tattoos, but he airbrushed the helmet for free.

“I contacted Lauren and Matt and said I’d like to do it no charge. Don’t worry about it, just pay it forward or just do something nice for somebody down the road when you can you know and here we are,” said Chadwick.

The family can’t thank Greg enough.