Doting dad gets tattoo that matches 4-year-old daughter’s scars from heart surgeries

To show their love and support for their little daughter who underwent three open-heart surgeries, the parents of a 4-year-old got special tattoos. The little girl was tragically born with a critical congenital heart defect. Thus, she needed to undergo her first surgery at just 3-days-old and had all three before she even turned 1. 

The dad from Illinois, Matt Backe, got his first-ever tattoo made on his chest that is an exact replica of his daughter, Everly’s scars she got from her surgeries.

Everly, who is lovingly called Evie by her family, was tragically born with a critical congenital heart defect. Thus, she needed to undergo her first surgery at just 3-days-old and had all three before she even turned 1. To make their little girl feel better about her scar, which will be opened in the future for more surgeries, they refer to it as “a zipper.”

Explaining the reason behind the comparison, Everly’s mother Lauren Backe said that doctors would open and close the area every time to make her feel better. But as her little girl grew older, she started becoming conscious of her scar. “I heard Evie make mention about the zipper, just asking more questions than usual,” recalled Matt, who then came up with the idea to become her “zipper buddy.”

“My thought was if I could get something that was a replica of it, we could be zipper buddies and she would not have that feeling of being alone,” he told Good Morning America. Thus, Matt got his first-ever tattoo made on his chest by a talented tattoo artist who was able to recreate Everly’s scar on his chest perfectly just by looking at a photo.

Ever since getting the tattoo in mid-January, Matt noticed that her daughter would often point at it and take note of the similarities between it and her scar. When asked about her father’s tattoo, the sweet girl shared, “He didn’t want me to be alone. He wanted to be special like me.” Everly’s elder brother Jack, 10, has since expressed his wish to get a similar-looking tattoo when he turns 18.

“It really makes me happy that they look the same,” said Jack of his little sister having her dad as a “zipper buddy.” The tattoo also inspired Lauren to get her first tattoo. Now she proudly flaunts a tattoo of EKG lines, showing a heart rate, on her forearm with Jack and Everly’s first initials on either end.