The brave Canadian, who is currently in remission since being diagnosed in 2011, has recently posted a video online to share her experience of getting two flower tattoos inked on her breasts.
“I’m trying to turn it around and do something positive with it,” says Patsy. “I wasn’t necessarily trying to cover up the scars, I just wanted to make them more pretty.”
In the video the Nova Scotia native says while her cancer treatment meant her body would be “forever changed” she wanted to transform it on her own terms.
“You’re never gonna look like you did before, so you gotta give that up. And for me, it wasn’t trying necessarily to get back to what I looked like before. It was kinda like, how can I be new, improved, and love me again in all my new bits and pieces?”
Halifax tattoo artist, Amber Thorpe who inked Patsy’s chest, has tattooed many cancer survivors and people with battle scars, but she says this story is unique.
“Obviously, taking your shirt off and exposing your chest is something that we don’t normally do as women, so her doing this, it’s full on freedom. I’m totally happy for her,” says Amber.
Patsy says while the cancer may have taken her breasts, it also blessed her with a brand new lease on life.
“I think in some ways [cancer] has given me a really good sense of here and now and to just grab everything you can out of every day and be in it.”
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Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
