The parents of a toddler who has a strawberry birthmark on her leg took the unusual step of having their legs tattooed to match hers so the little girl doesn’t feel different.
Tanya Phillips and her husband Adam Phillips from Grimsby, England, made the decision after hearing people talk about their daughter’s leg and the birthmark there.
"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,"
Tanya Phillips told the Mirror.
She said she was devastated when her daughter, Honey-Rae, was born and she saw the birthmark that covers half of her body.
“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 strangers' curious glances or whispering comments,” Tanya Phillips told the Mirror. "I didn’t want sympathy or pity or people feeling sorry for Honey-Rae. Adam and I decided straight away that we wanted Honey-Rae to feel special, that her birthmark was something to feel proud of and not embarrassed by.”
A strawberry birthmark, also known as a strawberry hemangioma, is caused by a cluster of closely packed blood vessels under the skin. “They usually grow rapidly, remain a fixed size, and then subside,”
says WebMD. “In most cases, strawberry hemangiomas disappear by the time a child is 10 years old. Some slight discoloration or puckering of the skin may remain at the site of the hemangioma.”
Tanya Phillips paid for her husband’s tattoo as part of his Christmas present, and Adam Phillips bought his wife’s for her upcoming 40th birthday, the Mirror said.
"It was incredibly painful, especially as I had a flower to cover some old star tattoos, but it was worth every second of the pain,” Tanya Phillips told the Mirror. “When the swelling went down, I showed Honey-Rae, and she gently touched it and smiled as she said ‘Match’, pointing to her own leg. If I’d have needed any reassurance that I’d made the right decision that was it.”
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