Cristiano Ronaldo’s body is completely a blank canvas. Yes, that’s right. Not even one small tattoo hidden away in a discrete part of his body. Nothing. While it may seem surprising to some, there’s a very good reason behind this. And no, it’s not because he’s scared of needles.
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Blood and bone marrow donation
The five-time Ballon D’Or winner has no tattoos for the simple reason that he regularly donates blood. Getting a tattoo would mean he would have to stop donating blood for a while. For safety reasons, getting tattooed means you have you wait several months for the blood cells to be restored.
Importance of the cause
The Portuguese international is highly invested aiding the blood donation cause and takes every opportunity to talk about it. The footballer explained back in 2015:
One donation can help three people who are urgently in need of treatment.
In 2012, Ronaldo helped one of his former teammate’s son, who was suffering from a serious illness; he was desperately in need of a bone marrow donation. Without hesitation, Ronaldo volunteered:
He told us about the problem with his son and the group decided to help this boy. (…) Many people think that it’s difficult to give bone marrow but it’s not, it’s really not that different from a classic blood test.