(NewsNation Now) — The bond between parent and child is often hard to put into words, with many parents willing to go to the ends of the earth to protect their kids and make them feel loved.

Everly Backe, 4, has those kinds of parents.

She was born with a serious congenital heart defect. Evie had her first heart surgery at just 3 days old and two more before her first birthday.

“Kiddos like Evie,  about 25% of them don’t make it to their first birthday and 30% of them don’t make it to 18,” her mom Lauren said Thursday on “NewsNation Prime.”

The surgeries left Evie with a prominent scar on her chest.

“I had heard Evie just making mention, more than usual, just asking more questions about her scar,” her dad Matt said. “And you know ‘Why?’ Why her heart is more special than others and different and this, that and the other.”

Matt decided to get a tattoo on his chest to match her scar.

“The thought being that it would be neat for her as she gets older and probably more self-aware and self-conscious to just know that she wasn’t alone,” Matt said. “That … if she ever started to feel like she was feeling uncomfortable, she could look to me and we could be zipper … buddies together.”

Lauren also got a tattoo on her wrist.

“They were excited that mine incorporated both of the kids,” Lauren said.

The parents spoke to NewsNation during American Heart Month to help raise awareness about heart disease and make sure other families don’t feel alone.

“Evie is more easily fatigued than your average 4-year-old,” Lauren said. “She’s more swollen than your average 4-year-old. She is having some heart failure challenges and we know that her fourth open heart surgery is coming soon. But she doesn’t know any different. She’s happy. She loves life.”