Dwayne Johnson Pays Tribute to Cancer-Stricken Fan

Dwayne Johnson has paid tribute to a young fan after the seven-year-old lost his battle with cancer last week.

Earlier this year, the action man invited Gabriel ‘Tater’ Singleton to join him on the set of the upcoming Baywatch remake to fulfill a lifelong dream of meeting his celebrity hero.

Johnson posted photos and videos on his Instagram account documenting their time together, and on Tuesday, the wrestler-turned-actor returned to the photo-sharing app to share the sad news his young friend had passed away.

In a lengthy post, Johnson wrote, “I don’t know why this lil’ 7yr old boy was chosen to battle cancer. Fighting it hard core daily… I believe everything happens for a reason – but sometimes it requires us to have faith to look deeper to know what they are. A few days ago Lil’ Tater passed on, earned his angel wings and is no longer in pain. Our strength and love go out to Tater’s mom, dad and sisters whom I had the privilege of spending time with on our set of Baywatch. As a dad, I’d do anything to put a smile on my girl’s faces and Tater’s mom and dad did everything they could to make this little boy smile. He sure did and it was beautiful. And we all smiled with him.”

Many of you know the story of strong lil' Tater who's wish it was to meet me. Been sitting on this post for a few days now, 'cause I wasn't sure how to express it.. but here goes. We go thru life and work hard, enjoy some successes, learn from our mistakes, provide for and protect our families – as a man there's some things I'm 100% certain of. Those are things I/we can control. Then there's some things, as much as it pains me, we just can't. I don't know why this lil' 7yr old boy was chosen to battle cancer. Fighting it hard core daily. Was it so his fight could inspire everyone around him? Was it ensure we would wake up everyday with a greater gratitude for life and hug our loved ones that much stronger? I believe everything happens for a reason – but sometimes it requires us to have faith to look deeper to know what they are. A few days ago Lil' Tater passed on, earned his angel wings and is no longer in pain. Our strength and love go out to Tater's mom, dad and sisters whom I had the privilege of spending time with on our set of Baywatch. As a dad, I'd do anything to put a smile on my girl's faces and Tater's mom and dad did everything they could to make this little boy smile. He sure did and it was beautiful. And we all smiled with him. We can't control what's around the corner, but we can ALWAYS control our effort and how we choose to LIVE and LOVE in this unpredictable, crazy and amazing thing we call life. Effort is our choice. #LiveLikeTater (after writing this post I'm counting my blessings and motivated to be productive today and run thru a wall like a maniac. Which would DEFINITELY make Tater laugh???).

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Aug 2, 2016 at 7:26am PDT

He continued, “We can’t control what’s around the corner, but we can ALWAYS control our effort and how we choose to LIVE and LOVE in this unpredictable, crazy and amazing thing we call life. Effort is our choice. #LiveLikeTater (after writing this post I’m counting my blessings and motivated to be productive today and run thru a wall like a maniac. Which would DEFINITELY make Tater laugh).”

When “Tater” met his idol in March, Johnson shared a video of himself presenting the fan with a Photoshopped poster, in which the lad was the star of his own Baywatch movie. Before handing the frame to him, Johnson held back tears while Tater stood there in awe.

In the accompanying caption, Johnson wrote, “When I told him ‘we’re all so inspired by you, especially me’ and looked down at him and saw him lookin’ up at me, nodding his head with those big eyes.. good Lord I almost lost it in front of him and the whole damn crew. Despite my almost tearing up like a baby and ruining my tough guy image, the greatest and I think most beautiful irony about Tater, is that this very special little boy has no idea just how much he inspires all of us around him. One day he will.”