Originally Published on FORM.ink
Alistair Campbell is one awesome dad
Last week he got his first tattoo, possibly his last. He's trying to win the heart of a very special girl, his daughter.
The father of three from New Zealand got a tattoo of a cochlear implant above his left ear to match the implant his 6-year old daughter, Charlotte, has been wearing for the past two years. Charlotte received a second device last week just one day after Campbell's tattoo.
"I just want to show Charlotte the love. At the moment, she's not a great understanding of it but as she gets older she will. It was a personal thing for me. My wife doesn't like tattoos, and I thought about this for a long time. It wasn't an easy decision, but it was for Charlotte. I wanted to show her, hey, I could go for a little bit of pain, too, even though it's nothing compared to what she goes through."
The surgery for a cochlear implant provides an electronic device that gives a sense of sound to individuals who are deaf.
Since posting a picture to Facebook for his friends and relatives to see, Campbell's story has gone viral. The 38 year old father describes the response as "overwhelming" and immensely positive.
Campbell and his wife also have an 8 year-old son who hears a hearing aid. Charlotte's grandmother wears a cochlear implant as well (although not until the age of 55. The tattoo is meaningful for the Campbell family in more than one way.
Normally with a full head of hair, Campbell shaved his head entirely before getting this tattoo. He'll eventually re-grow it, but won't do so until after a charity boxing match that intends to raise money for Hear 4 Kids Trust, a charity that helps families with hearing impaired children receive the cochlear implant surgery.
Campbell is a bit unsure if Charlotte understands the meaning and significance of his new tattoo just yet. When showing it to her, she examined the design closely, Campbell asked, "What are you thinking?" to which Charlotte responded "Cool". She then looked around his head to see if he had a matching tattoo on the other side.
The world needs more people like Alistair Campbell.
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