Tanya and Adam Phillips decided to do something special for Tanya’s birthday. It was her 40th, after all. So they did. They didn’t go on holiday or head out for a nice meal or anything, though. They went instead to a tattoo parlor. But not because they’re inking addicts. They had a quite unselfish and incredible reason to both get a new tatt… Their daughter Honey-Mae.
The 18 month-old was born with extensive birthmarks running up the left hand side of her body. While little Honey is fine about it now, her parents just know that there’ll come a time in the near future when she’ll start to grow conscious of it and resent it. So – to make her feel like she fits in – they got matching birthmark tattoos!
The English couple from Grimsby in Lincolnshire said that the scale of the inking mean that it was quite painful, but it was more than worth it.
Housewife Tanya said: “Most people might think it’s very extreme but to us it was the natural thing to do to ensure our daughter never felt different or alone in the world.”
“It is bright red and it covers almost half of the right side of her body. It stretches from her toes to her lower back. It hasn’t faded with time. In fact some days, it looks darker than others.’
“Like any Mum I didn’t want her to be different. I wanted her to be exactly the same as every other healthy child. And as much as the birthmark isn’t dangerous I knew it could have a huge impact on the rest of her life. Although in our eyes she was perfect, I knew other people would cruelly point and stare at her.”
“For the first few months of her life, whenever we went out, I made sure her legs were covered up. I couldn’t cope with stranger’s curious glances or whispering comments. I didn’t want sympathy or pity or people feeling sorry for Honey-Rae.”
Now that’s what we call great parenting!
