Featured Stories
Personal Ink and our community have been featured in impressive media publications throughout the years. You can read these stories at the links below.
See How These Breast Cancer Survivors Turned Their Mastectomy Scars Into Art with Stunning Tattoos
People Magazine wrote an article about P.ink in May 2024. The author shared the stories of P.ink recipients, Kerry Wright, Janet Wiseman, and Dawn Pugh, and their artists, Christopher Yaws, Akos Strenner, and Eddie Torres.
“After her final reconstruction surgery in November 2021, when she decided against nipple reconstruction (“Healing in two places when I had nothing but trouble healing? I wasn’t going to do that”), Wright began to reconsider [a mastectomy tattoo]. But she quickly realized that a tattoo covering such a large space would be more than she could easily afford— upwards of $1,500 to $1,800. “Cancer is expensive. Post-cancer is expensive because of all the medications,” Wright says. “I couldn’t justify taking that out of the household budget for myself.”
Then she came across a social media post from P.ink, and she applied for one of the group’s P.ink Days. “They get so many applications, and it was my first year applying, so I thought, ‘It’s not going to happen,’” she says. But she received a call in August saying she was accepted.”
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After 5 Failed Breast Reconstructions, Getting a Tattoo Over My Scars Helped Me Heal
Erin Burnett, a P.ink Day recipient in 2019, shared her experience with PopSugar in October 2023. Erin was tattooed by artist Sal Tino.
“Today, I hold my head up higher because of it. The tattoo I chose crawls up onto my shoulder, and I always tell people, “My cleavage is more beautiful than yours.” I let it hang out, and I get a lot of questions. People tell me, “Wow, your tattoo is really cool.” And I’m proud to tell them, “It’s so much more than what you think it is.”
I can pull down my shirt and show them the full tattoo and all of the scars. I had a lot of muscle and tissue removed, and I’m a bit deformed, but it’s all covered by this beautiful peony. Now, it’s almost like these battle wounds I get to show off to the world.”
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