Tonight on Sunday ` what would you do to get rid of your tattoo? BUZZING If I could give you a pill to get rid of them all, would you take it? Desperate to get rid of them. (YELPS) Aargh! Want them gone at any cost. I mean, the rule is don't get it in the first place, right? (CHUCKLES) And uppy... They said he was retarded,... would never walk or talk. (CHUCKLES) The dad who wouldn't give up, and... I can't stand cerebral palsy. Right, left. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora. I'm Miriamo Kamo. Sonny Bill Williams has tats. So has Gin Wigmore. Celebrities have helped make them more acceptable, respectable, particularly among young NZ women who are the most tattooed in the world. But now more and more of them are doing a rethink on their ink and enduring months of agony to erase their mistakes. One laser clinic alone is erasing a thousand tattoos a year. So, mums and dads, if the kids are talking tats, get them watching this. Just a caution, though, some of the pictures are challenging. Here's Peter Cronshaw. ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC How old were you when you got your first tattoo? > How old were you when you got your first tattoo? > 14. 14? > 14? > Yep. Very young. ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC CONTINUES And what possessed you to get that at the age of 14? > Um, because it would be interesting to see if I could, and I was being rebellious ` maybe against my parents. ELECTRONIC MUSIC For the past decade Rachel Walker has looked at her skin as a blank canvas ` prime real estate in need of decoration. People said, 'Oh, you're gonna regret them when you're older.' Or, 'How are you gonna look when you're old?' And my answer was, 'I'll be old, and I'll be wrinkly with tattoos.' Like, how else would you look? But the older I've got, the more I see that it pigeonholes who I am, and people presume I'm a certain way, or that I fit into a certain demographic. If I could give you a pill to get rid of them all, would you take it? If I could give you a pill to get rid of them all, would you take it? Yes. Straight away? > Straight away? > Yes. In a flash. Ow, my... But there is no magic pill. Ow! Far out. Every six weeks Rachel has been coming to this clinic to try and erase the marks and mistakes of youth. Yeah, it's a good feeling. Ow. That's not. (CHUCKLES) She's now one year into a journey that is far from over. Can you smell the burning as well? Can you smell the burning as well? Hmm. Pleasant (!) Can you smell the burning as well? Hmm. Pleasant (!) BOTH LAUGH The laser is literally exploding the bubbles of ink under her skin. So, that popping noise is the ink. Ow. Like that. POPPING Fudge. What's more painful? Getting a tattoo, or getting a tattoo removed? What's more painful? Getting a tattoo, or getting a tattoo removed? Getting rid of it, for sure. It's atrocious. And the more sessions you go through to get it removed, the more it hurts, cos it goes deeper. Yeah. It's horrible. It's horrible. But as Rachel has discovered, so too is the stigma that comes with tattoos. I've had people just stare me up and down and then whisper as I walk past. Or I've had mums cross over the road with their kids to not walk next to me, which is just bizarre. I'm a tiny little white girl. Like, I'm not that scary. HEAVY ROCK MUSIC Like them, loathe them ` young NZ is inking up like never before. HEAVY MUSIC CONTINUES And here's a fact that might surprise you. It's women leading the charge. The general feeling is that women are now outstripping men. And the idea that, you know, 60% of your client base might be female is pretty amazing. A photography lecturer at the Massey School of Fine Arts, Helen Mitchell has been documenting the increasing popularity of getting inked. Isn't it fascinating that you don't necessarily know what people are wearing underneath their clothes? Without becoming salacious about it, but what wonderful tattoos might be revealed? HEAVY DRUM MUSIC Nowadays the words 'show us your tat' can draw a response from the most unlikely quarters. I love my tattoos. I love them. Absolutely love them. Heather Cleghorn, a corporate manager, has invested thousands into her body art. It starts off with a koi fish which is, uh, sits on my hip. And typically they are the prelude to the dragon. It's a green dragon, so it's about strength. It's about rising through adversity. You know, I am strong; I can survive things. Um, and I can still be` I can still be beautiful. Heather's tattoo masks the scars of osteoarthritis. I believe I have a good side and a bad side. Um, I've had some surgeries on my tattooed side that have made it fairly scarred. And I just feel it makes it better-looking... to have that picture on that. It's less focus on the things that I know are wrong and more focus on something that is, you know, a cool picture. It took 160 hours to complete this body art. At $150 per hour it can be expensive therapy. You're a mum. You're a mum. Yes. Two girls. What happens when your girls say, 'I want a tattoo'? I've got a 7-year-old who's got her pictures all picked out. She's decided she wants a lot of her body covered. And an 11-year-old who doesn't want anything to do with it. And I gave them the one piece of advice my father gave me, and that was, 'You can't have one till you're 18. And you can't have hands, feet, face, neck.' That's the rule? That's the rule? That's the rule. The family rule. Once the preserve of sailors, bikers and stag parties gone wrong, tattooing has made the transition from subculture to popular culture. More and more people that I know who are acquiring tattoos are people who are a little bit older. I know one woman who's 64 who's just had her sixth tattoo. And as she says, 'Who's gonna be concerned? 'I'm not going to lose my job over it. My mother's not alive. She's not gonna be worried.' If they're so popular and going mainstream, why's the corporate world still covering them up? Um,... I think that there are still certain people who don't like the idea of tattoos. ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC A tattooist's needle can puncture the skin up to 8000 times per minute. It injects industrial-strength ink deep into the dermis, which is why they can be so difficult to erase. The reason some ink never comes out is that there's no quality control on ink. LASER POPS Over the past 10 years, Colin Shepherd, a professional tattoo removalist, has seen it all. Anyone can mix anything with ink, and they do. They mix things like, uh, Nugget, cocoa, um, rubber from the soles of your shoes, um, soot from matches,... uh, juice from lawn clippings. Some people use common engine oil, like Castrol GTX. So they come in; they see me here with big grey stains on their arms. It's terrible. Very very difficult to get out. How old is that tattoo? How old is that tattoo? Um, two years. Lisa Manahi's tattoos used to be her pride and joy. Now they're job-stoppers, impeding her hopes and dreams of becoming a social worker. I don't think it would be really appropriate to go into social work, working with children, all tatted up. It just looks like a blob of ink that should not be there. (LAUGHS) Yeah. Colin removes approximately a thousand tattoos every year. That's one of them done. In NZ there is no national policy restricting the age of getting a tattoo. Well, the youngest I've seen is a 12-year-old girl. 12? > 12? > 12. With a fully professional tattoo. No parental consent. She's been out. She's got money. They do them, and when the parents find out ` or more commonly, the school finds out first ` um, they end up in here with Mum and Dad. 'Get it off.' ELECTRONIC MUSIC Rachel Walker was a fresh-faced 14-year-old when she got her first tattoo. Back then, there was nothing cooler. But 10 years on, she's had a major rethink about getting inked. I just don't want them any more. I don't want to be that person any more. I don't feel like I'm that person any more. The defining moment came, in part, on her wedding day. When you're a kid, and you're like, 'I'm gonna wear a dress and look like a princess,' I didn't feel like I would look like that with the tattoos I had, so I tried my darndest to cover them up, but some of them you just can't. So looking back on your wedding photos, what do you think? So looking back on your wedding photos, what do you think? I look about as pretty as I could. You know? Like, I love my dress, and, yeah, my hair was fine and whatever, but the tattoos will always be there, so... That doesn't sound like a happy bride. That doesn't sound like a happy bride. Not really, no. A warning: these next images are disturbing. Getting a tattoo was easy. God, that hurts. (YELPS) (WINCES) Hate that bit. Undoing them was no pretty picture. It doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. No, it doesn't. It gets worse afterwards. For the record, Rachel is not anti-tattoo. People who tell you this doesn't hurt are lying. (CHUCKLES WRYLY) She just thinks that people should be more aware that trends come and go, but tattoos are pretty much forever. You can learn from your mistakes, and you suffer the consequences. I am. I like who I am, and I like some of my tattoos, but if I could take them all back and do it all over again, I would. (GROANS, YELPS) What you get when you're 14, you're most likely not gonna like when you get to 24, 34, whatever. Cos your taste changes; your style changes. Everything changes. You sound like you've grown out of them. Yeah, you could say that, I guess. Grown up, and grown out of it. (SHUDDERS) Yes, so as you heard, there are no age laws for tattoos, but the Ministry of Health says local councils can make bylaws. Next ` a beautiful story about tough love, hard work and faith. If he doesn't walk, or he doesn't talk, then it's fine. I'm happy he's alive. But if a day comes when he walks, probably the happiest day of my life. Welcome back. When Jackson Keleher was born, doctors said he'd never walk or talk. Their science was right. What they couldn't count on was the power of a father's love. And what David and Jackson Keleher achieved together makes a heart-warming story, truly. Here's Tim Newman. Come on. Come on. Stand up. Yeah! I've always accepted Jackson and his brain injury. I've always accepted that. Just a little bit more. Ah. The one thing I don't accept is his brain injury's gonna leave him as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Stand up. Can you put two hands up? Hey, there's Steady, Jackson. Look, there's Steady, look. Hey, there's Steady, Jackson. Look, there's Steady, look. Hey, man. Steady. Dave. Eddy. How are you, Eddy? How are you, Eddy? Yeah, good mate, good. How are you, Eddy? Yeah, good mate, good. Mate, this is little Jacko. Comedian Steady Eddy and Jackson Keleher both suffered brain damage at birth. Both have cerebral palsy. They said that he'd be retarded. They said he'd` he would never stand up or talk or walk. Jackson's father, David, is finding it difficult to cope and needs advice. I'll let you into a little secret. No matter whether you're able-bodied, or cerebral palsy, paraplegic, blind, deaf, dumb, whatever, mate, all we got is a day at a time. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC David and girlfriend Carrie had been together for two years when Jackson was conceived. I guess you never forget. The birth of your firstborn son is an amazing thing. It should have been the best day of your life. > And it was in` One second, it was. And then a couple of hours later, it became the worst part of our life. Jackson was born perfect after a normal pregnancy, and then at about three hours of age, he was found in a very bad state. He wasn't breathing. He didn't have a heart rate, and he required full resuscitation by the medical team so that he could survive. So something dramatically had gone wrong, and we're not sure to this day what it was. I was able to touch him, but I couldn't hold him. How tough is it for you, even now? > Very. Unimaginable. There's not a second in the day that I don't think about it. At 16 weeks, Jackson's diagnosis was that 95% of his body was disabled. Jackson was never expected to walk or talk. His intelligence was unaffected. I realised life as I knew it would never be the same. I realised that I was committed to something I knew nothing about and it would be an incredible journey ahead. You know, we just survived. Unfortunately, our relationship didn't survive. 'TWINKLE, TWINKLE' PLAYS At 10 months, Jackson's mother and I separated, and at that point, I became Jackson's primary carer. GENTLE PIANO MUSIC David had to accept Jackson's prognosis, but refused to believe nothing could be done. He discovered that with intense physiotherapy and exercise, the young brain can be retrained to communicate with the body. Day after day David pushed his son to the limit, and slowly, it started to work. Good boy. Things like Jackson starting to move his body in the slightest of ways. < Jackson. < Jackson. Jackson responding to even the most basic things. No one ever beats me at Twister! No one ever beats me at Twister! AUDIENCE LAUGHS For 20 years, Steady Eddy has turned his disability into comedy. Getting sober was the hardest thing I ever did. Three days sober I looked in the mirror and thought, (GASPS) 'I've got cerebral palsy!' (GASPS) 'I've got cerebral palsy!' AUDIENCE LAUGHS What helped the most? What helped the most? Being a stubborn bastard. Let's go to the other side. Let's go to the other side. (SCREAMS, CRIES) Jackson's weekly schedule is unforgiving. There's hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, osteotherapy, acupuncture, speech lessons... Bread. ...and a German therapy called Vojta. (SCREAMS FRANTICALLY) By manipulating pressure points, it ignites hidden pathways that control basic movement. Up you go! Good boy! Up you go! Good boy! Good man! After over a year of constant rehabilitation, finally he stands up. DAVID: Oh, look at you, standing up like a big boy! CHEERING, CLAPPING You're a very proud man, aren't you? I asked for a miracle, but I didn't really realise that a miracle would take such hard work. What do you do? Exactly, that's what you do. That's what you do. Come on, Jackson. Good boy. Good boy. CHEERING Well, when we come back, Jackson's mum and her own personal struggle. I accept I'm his mother, and I'm proud to be his mother ` very proud to be his mother, but... I can't stand cerebral palsy. So, Jackson and his dad have defied science. The wee boy with cerebral palsy who couldn't stand up has stood up and taken his first faltering steps. Meanwhile, his mother Carrie is fighting her own personal battle. That's it. That's beautiful. Jackson spends 1-2 days a week with his mother. There you go, baby. I've accepted Jackson for who he is now, but he shouldn't be like this. What don't you accept? > I don't accept that my little boy is in pain and life is so hard for him. I accept I'm his mother, and I'm proud ` very proud to be his mother ` but... I can't stand cerebral palsy. What does that word mean to you now? > I'm repulsed by that word. It's not a word that sits well with me. I've accepted Jackson with the cerebral palsy, but they're not two words that I like. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC How much of a dad is Dave? Phenomenal. He` Faultless. I don't know any dad that is as dedicated as Dave. He's amazing as a father. D for... Dad-dad! D for... Dad-dad! JACKSON LAUGHS Jackson say 'Dad-dad'? David has put his career as a designer on hold and moved back in with his parents to provide full-time care. The government carer's allowance is only $57 a week, but medical bills alone amount to more than $60,000 a year. By the time Jackson reaches 18, therapy and care will have cost David more than $1.2 million, and he says it's worth every penny. DRAMATIC MUSIC At Mary MacKillop's tomb, Jackson's grandmother Bonnie prays for a third miracle. God bless Daddy and help Jackson. DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES But God helps those who help themselves. Today is special. 35 of David's former class mates have pledged to become Jackson's godfathers. This marks a very important moment for us all because you men have come here to support David and support Jackson. Together, they've raised $50,000, and that's just the start. Good boy. Yeah, good man. So you are all godparents for this boy. Rohan. Nicholas. Matthew. Michael. Simon. Toby. Darren. It's a roll call of mateship,... Steve. Michael. ...and Jackson is pretty pleased. Hey. Hey. APPLAUSE High five, high five, high five, everybody. High five. Thanks, mate. Cheers. Thanks, boys. What's your dream? My dream is that one day Jackson and I will be fishing. We'll be off in the South Pacific somewhere; we'll be reeling in two big marlins, and I'll lean over and tell him, 'The doctors said when you were born you'd never walk,' and Jackson looks to me and he says, 'Dad, I don't believe you.' Can you describe your love for him? Um,... Jackson's a beautiful boy. Yep. (SIGHS) OK, well, that's us for tonight. Do check us out on Facebook. Kia pai to wiki, and we'll see you next Sunday. Nga mihi nui, hei kona.