Dad Gets Tattoo To Match 4-year-old Daughter’s Heart Surgery Scar So She Doesn’t Feel Alone

Jack, Everly’s older brother, wants a matching tattoo and has promised to get one when he turns 18.

After a 4-year-old daughter had three open-heart surgeries, her parents got tattoos that matched her scars to indicate she wasn’t alone. Everly was born with a serious congenital heart condition and underwent surgery before turning one. The scars have stayed since then, and the now four-year-old seemed to be bothered by them, as she kept asking inquiries about them. When Evie has future heart surgeries, her scars will have to be reopened.

As a result, her scar has been dubbed a zipper by her family, which physicians will have to open and close. They came up with the phrase to help Everly comprehend and feel better.

Her father, Matt Backe, got a tattoo to match Everley’s scar so she wouldn’t feel so alone. According to Good Morning America, Backe, whose family is from Crystal Lake, Illinois, became her “zipper pal.”

Everly’s family affectionately refers to her as Evie. Evie underwent her first surgery at the age of three days. She became more aware of the scar as she grew older, which was not present on anyone else’s body. It made her feel strange, so Matt Backe decided to get a tattoo that looked like her scar. He explained, “I heard Evie mention the zipper, simply asking more questions than normal.” “I figured if I could find a replica of that, we could be zipper buddies and she wouldn’t feel so alone.” Matt Backe was able to reproduce the scar on his chest with the help of a great local tattoo artist.

Evie has been pointing fingers to his’scar’ and then back at hers since receiving the tattoo, remarking on how similar they are. “He didn’t want me to be alone, so he made sure I wasn’t. He aspired to be as unique as I am “Everly commented on her father’s tattoo.

Lauren Backe, Everly’s mother, decided to participate in as well, getting an EKG line tattoo on her forearm beside Everly and Jack, her elder son’s first initials. Jack, who is ten years old, wants to be a zipper buddy and has promised to acquire the corresponding tattoo when he reaches the age of eighteen. “It makes me so pleased that they look the same,” Jack said of his father’s tattoo that matches Everly’s scar.

Lauren Backe posted photos of the tattoos and scar on her Facebook page. The outpouring of support from friends, relatives, and well-wishers left her speechless. “‘I had a scar growing up, and I used to cross my arms when I was in the pool because I was self-conscious about it,’ said one person [with congenital heart abnormalities]. This was something I could definitely identify to,’ “Lauren Backe expressed her thoughts. “We’ve been really blown away by the number of people who have reached out and the amount of support we’ve received.”

Backes knew their child would have heart problems from the beginning. Lauren and Everly were advised that the child could have cardiac problems when she was 33 weeks pregnant. They performed their research and discovered a hospital where she could be treated, and Everly had her first operation just three days after she was born. Everly was fed through a feeding tube and was connected to an oxygen tank for several months after she returned home. Everly and her family spent the first few months of her life in and out of hospitals, according to Lauren Backe.

Everly is still on medicine, but she is now in preschool and even taking dance classes. The Backes are now hoping that congenital heart defect technology and research advance quickly enough to aid Everly in the future, when she is likely to undergo heart surgery.

Lauren Backe said, “Our wish for Evie is that she gets to live the life she wants to live.” For starters, she wants to perform in a dance recital in December, where she hopes to portray a penguin in the ballet “The Nutcracker.”