Woman embraces mastectomy scars with stunning tattoo
A breast cancer survivor has had an epic tattoo inked across her mastectomy scars in a bid to embrace her new body.
Wendy Dresner, 54, from Leeds, went under the needle two years after her double mastectomy, after deciding it was time to celebrate her scars and transform her body into an incredible piece of art.
And it wasn’t just any old tattoo artist who was granted the honour of decorating her body, it was no less than David Beckham’s ‘angel’ tattooist, Louis Molloy.
The tattoo has taken 24 hours to create so far and she’s already thinking about what she’ll have next.
She made sure to capture the transformation event in an incredible video – which you can watch below.
Wendy has been diagnosed with breast cancer twice in the past 10 years. Following a double mastectomy in 2017, she struggled with her body confidence, feeling uncomfortable in her clothes and less feminine.
But with the support of her husband and two children, she was able to rebuild her self-confidence. Speaking about her scars, Wendy said: ‘I don’t see these mastectomy scars as something to be ashamed of. I want to embrace them.’
The video shows Wendy getting a lizard across her chest, to accompany various flowers, swirls and geckos coming over her shoulder and back.
For Wendy, her tattoos are a symbol of strength and a celebration of overcoming breast cancer not once, but twice: ‘I wanted to reclaim my body and redefine my scars. At first, I hated looking at them, and tried to hide them away, but now I just want to show them off to anyone who’ll look!’
‘I have no regrets,’ says Wendy.
‘I absolutely love how my tattoos have turned out and what they’re evolving into as well. This is my way of celebrating and saying, “Look I’ve been through it, I’m out the other side, I survived it. Come on, bring it on, what’s next?!”’
Wendy found a lump in her breast in 2009. She went through a difficult few months of treatment, having a lumpectomy and then radiotherapy.
Looking back, Wendy remembers her first diagnosis being very hard. Her children were young and it was tough on her husband, Martin, who had sadly lost his own mother to breast cancer in the late 1980s.
Wendy is taking part in her local Pretty Muddy event in Leeds this summer with her two children, Hani and Fred, to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
‘We’re so excited,’ explains Wendy.
‘I wanted to celebrate getting my tattoo done and this seemed like the perfect way to do that. It’s my first time taking part in a Pretty Muddy, so I’m looking forward to climbing the obstacles, getting muddy and fundraising all in support of a brilliant cause.’
Source: Read Full Article
