Dad Honors His Brave 4-Year-Old Daughter With Tattoo Matching Her Open Heart Surgery Scar

One dad gets a tattoo to match his little girl’s open heart surgery scar in order to make her feel less alone. What a heartwarming gesture and something that the two can share now.

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Everly “Evie” Backe is 4 years old, and she had her first open-heart surgery in August 2017 when she was just 3 days old. And because of her complex congenital heart defect, Evie had to undergo two more surgeries, all before she turned 1 year old.

The biggest scars left from the surgeries are on her chest, and her family calls it her “zipper.” Her father, Matt Backe, wanted to get a tattoo to match Evie’s scars so they could be “zipper buddies.”

"My daddy got a tattoo like my zipper so that I don't feel alone...and he wants to be special like me," said Evie.

When Matt had shared his idea about the tattoo with his other family members, they surprised him with a gift certificate for a local tattoo parlor for Christmas. And once the tattoo was finished, both the father and daughter were very pleased with the results.

"It really makes me happy that they look the same," shared Matt.

Lauren Backe, Evie’s mother, also got a tattoo in honor of her children. She got an EKG line with a heart in the middle on her forearm with Evie's first initial on one end and her son Jack's on the other.

Dad's Open Heart Surgery Scar Tattoo Honors Brave 4-Year-Old Daughter

Lauren and Matt first found out about Evie’s heart problems when Lauren was 33 weeks pregnant with her. And once Evie was born, she spent the first month of her life in a specialized pediatric cardiology unit. Then the family would travel 130 miles round-trip while Evie was in and out of the hospital that first year.

"She spent a lot of that first 13 months of her life in and out of the hospital," Lauren said. "But we were grateful that they taught us so much that we could also be at home."

Now, Lauren and Matt work with other families who have children with congenital heart defects. "It's important to Matt and I to try to help other CHD families," shared Lauren.

Just like Matt didn’t want his daughter to feel alone with her surgery scars, this couple wants to make sure other parents don’t feel alone while going through what they went through with Evie.

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God bless Evie and her family as they use their story to help others!

WATCH: Dad Gets Tattoo To Match His Daughter's Open Heart Surgery Scar

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h/t: People

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