My story is a little different. Five years ago I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. On the one year anniversary I wanted to get a tattoo of a pink ribbon around my left wrist and was told that I couldn't because I'd lost lymph nodes on the left side so I got it on the right wrist. I wanted it BIG, BRIGHT and flashy so that people would see it and ask me about it and I could go into my speech about early detection and to encourage women to do regular breast exams and mammograms. I wanted it so badly because my Cancer was found accidentally when i was in the hospital with pneumonia and after a CAT scan they saw the lump under my arm. I feel that my two courses of chemo were so successful because it was found very early. After getting the tattoo from a friend of the family it was horrible. A tattoo shop was having a cover-up contest and the four artists each picked a picture of a tattoo that someone wanted a cover-up on with the story of why they got the tattoo. Then there was supposed to be a week of people liking the picture to cast their vote on who got the cover-up. I submitted mine and was named on the site as a finalist. Where the story gets interesting is that the other three contestants read my story and why I wanted the tattoo and they bowed out and gave the win to me. I went to Alcatraz Body Modifications and instead of them covering it up they decided they liked my story of why I got it so it was decided to just fix it and make it the way it looked in my visions when I was dreaming it up. Thanks to them and the three wonderful people who stepped aside I now have a tattoo that I don't try to hide and flash proudly while it does what I'd intended it to do and make people ask me questions about it.

Pamela Emery
New Castle, PA