No two ways about it, breast cancer, and all cancer, sucks. It interrupts life in a big way. It causes anxiety, fear and trauma, to name just a few of the difficult emotions. Cancer hit me twice, and both times it knocked me flat on my face. I cried harder than I have ever cried and it made me very angry. Both times, I found I had to reach deep inside myself to find strength to carry on. Both times I had to look hard to find a silver lining.
One of the silver linings I found is P.ink, Personal Ink. Personal Ink exists to connect cancer survivors and previvors with talented, kind, empathetic tattoo artists who understand what it takes to tattoo over scar tissue. I found P.ink just after they started in 2013. A friend who also has type 1 diabetes, Sarah Lems, she is the neighbor of the founder of P.ink in Boulder, Colorado, and Sarah told me about P.ink. With zero hesitation, I flew to New York City to get my tattoo in October 2013. My artist was the incredible Ashley Love.
Getting the pink lotus tattoo over the 9-inch scar across my chest, where my right breast used to be, astonishingly changed me forever. As I have said before, I now no longer hate looking in the mirror. Just today, I flashed another water aerobics attendee at the YWCA when she asked me about P.ink Day!
When Noel Franus, the founder of P.ink Day, asked several of us survivors who got tattoos in 2013, if we’d like to be Local Leaders of a P.ink Day in our local community, I jumped at the opportunity. We’ve now had three P.ink Days here in Minneapolis-St. Paul. All three have been held at Twilight Tattoo, which is owned by Shane Wallin. All six of the artists who agreed to participate in 2015, participated this year. Our P.ink Day in Minneapolis was held a few days ago, on Sunday, October 9th.
Our artists are: Joe Andrews, Ariel Cafarelli, Erin Torola, Matt Kolling, Reime Jahr and Alex Gregory. Click on their names and you will see some of their amazing art. You can also like our Facebook page and see some incredible photos of the healing art that happened just a few days ago.
To get you inspired, here are some photos I took with my camera and my iPhone. In a few more days, the photos that Amy Anderson took will be viewable on our Facebook page.
One thing I want everyone to know is that this is a volunteer gig. Literally EVERYONE who is part of this healing extravaganza is a volunteer. That includes all the tattoo artists. Yup, they donate the ink and their incredible talent to this cause. Eighteen women in Minnesota and Wisconsin, (Missy comes every year from Wisconsin!) have gotten tattoos, and each year, women who were previously tattooed come back as volunteers! Which is good, as I am retiring as the Local Leader of Minneapolis. I’m passing the baton to Kathy Ingraham, who got her tattoo from Erin Torola in 2014.
I’m now going to help coach other cities and Local Leaders! As you know, I do love coaching. Turns out I’m good at making magic happen, and healing magic is the very best, in my humble opinion. In 2016, 57 women got healing tattoos in 14 cities in the US and Canada. Slowly and surely P.ink is growing.
Thank you for your support! All of us who’ve survived and who got a healing tattoo sure do appreciate you!
If you search Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, the hashtag for all the cities who did P.ink Day is #PinkTattooDay.
Do leave a comment. I love to hear from you!!
Happy tattooing and beautiful healing to all!
