Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Dad gets sweet implant tattoo for his daughter

NZ Herald
6 Aug, 2015 05:14 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Charlotte Campbell age 6 with her dad Alistair who had a cochlear implant tattooed on his head to support Charlotte who is deaf. Photo / Dean Purcell, NZ Herald

Charlotte Campbell age 6 with her dad Alistair who had a cochlear implant tattooed on his head to support Charlotte who is deaf. Photo / Dean Purcell, NZ Herald

A Taupo dad has gotten a cochlear implant tattooed on his head to help his little girl not feel like the odd one out.

Charlotte, 6, who had her first implant put in at the age of 4 in 2013, has just had her second one put in at Gillies Hospital.

In a gesture of support, her father, Alistair Campbell, had his own "implant" tattooed on the left side of his head, three days ago.

Mr Campbell, who had no other tattoos, said he wanted to do it to show her that he could go through a little bit of pain for her too.

"My love for her really," he said. "Hey my hair can grow back."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Campbell had shaved his head completely to get the tattoo done but said he would be letting his hair grow back.

He'd shave it off again and show off the tattoo at "special occasions," or if Charlotte wanted to see it.

When Charlotte saw her dad's version of a cochlear implant she giggled, touched it and told him it was "cool".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Charlotte's mum, Anita Campbell, wasn't so sure her daughter had quite grasped the significance of the tattoo yet.

She hoped her daughter's latest implant in her right ear would further "enhance her life".

Mrs Campbell's mother had a cochlear implant and her second-son, Lewis, 8, wore hearing aids so she wasn't surprised when Charlotte was diagnosed.

She said things were a bit "up and down" for a while as the diagnosis evolved from just a mild hearing impairment, to the news Charlotte was profoundly deaf in her left ear and had a condition which limited the ability to transmit sound to her brain in her right.

Discover more

Lifestyle

Dad's tatts lend an ear to his kids

08 Apr 05:00 PM

Mrs Campbell said Charlotte's first implant in her left ear saw an immense change in her daughter's behaviour.

"She wouldn't talk to anybody to pretty much a social butterfly," she said.

The Hearing House fundraising and communications manager, Mary Jane Boland, said this second implant would give Charlotte "more sound" and help her better distinguish the direction it's coming from.

"But the key thing is Charlotte does all the things hearing kids can do," she said. "She lives a really ordinairy life."

A photo on Twitter showing Mr Campbell, holding his daughter, with the picture of the implant tattooed on his otherwise bald head, has gone viral on social media.

People from as far afield as France and Germany praising Mr Campbell for the tattoo.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Filip Dakic tweeted, "Wow. Respect! Getting through it together with his daughter."

Anatol tweeted, "Quelle beau geste [ what a beautiful gesture] Getting through it together with his daughter."

Getting through it together with his daughter... pic.twitter.com/5razCJ9oxh

— LADbible (@ladbible) August 5, 2015

Join the conversation on the Herald Life Facebook page

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

'It was my calling': Inside the Taupō farm taming wild horses

20 Jun 10:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Max capacity': Good news for growing school squeezing classes into library

20 Jun 09:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Save a lot more lives': Stage 4 cancer survivor's plea for earlier screening

20 Jun 06:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
'It was my calling': Inside the Taupō farm taming wild horses

'It was my calling': Inside the Taupō farm taming wild horses

20 Jun 10:00 PM

There are 93 horses still facing an uncertain fate.

'Max capacity': Good news for growing school squeezing classes into library

'Max capacity': Good news for growing school squeezing classes into library

20 Jun 09:00 PM
'Save a lot more lives': Stage 4 cancer survivor's plea for earlier screening

'Save a lot more lives': Stage 4 cancer survivor's plea for earlier screening

20 Jun 06:00 PM
Rotorua Home & Lifestyle Show returns

Rotorua Home & Lifestyle Show returns

20 Jun 04:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP