Healing with ink: Breast cancer survivors take back control

Holding the intricate stencil over her double mastectomy, Suzanne Deluney chose a design that represented her whole family. She drove to Montreal from Ottawa to get it done.

Bright pink lilies for herself and her grandmother, daffodils for her son, violets for her daughter and a hummingbird for her father.

With the detailed bouquet covering her scars, Deluney added a honeybee, framing the bottom of the pink lily petals. It represents her sister-in-law, Kellie Hopper-Deluney, who had also wanted to get a mastectomy tattoo.

"She passed away in 2020," Deluney said, tearing up. "And she couldn't get it done, so I'm getting it done for both of us today. So I'm very excited. She's with us, I feel it."

Much like many of the other women, Deluney came from outside Montreal last week to receive a free mastectomy tattoo to cover her surgery scars. It's a local initiative made possible by Karen Malkin Lazarovitz, the founder and head of EmpowerInk.

"The artists give their time, I connect them with recipients," Lazarovitz said. "They get to start a new chapter in their journey where they feel less broken, and more whole."

The initiative took shape when Lazarovitz was herself diagnosed with the BRCA gene, which put her at risk of getting breast cancer. As a preventive measure, Lazarovitz got a double mastectomy — a journey filled with complications and other surgeries.

Eventually, it led her to getting tattoos over her scars, which changed the way she looked at herself.

"I realized after I did that how healing it was to look in the mirror and see something that I chose to put there, and it changes the way you feel about yourself. I wanted to be able to pay it forward," she said.

For Stephanie Dawn, who came in from Vancouver, finding an artistic way to cover her mastectomy scars was something she found after a long search.

She was diagnosed when she just turned 29, to the surprise of both her and her family. As a young survivor, Dawn had trouble finding examples of mastectomy procedures for those her age.

"I was pretty much told you're getting a double, you're not keeping your nipples," Dawn said. "Whereas as you can look around the room here today, there are options."

"It's important for women like us to share stories so there's more awareness of the options."

Having little control over their own bodies is an experience each survivor shared as they received their tattoos.

"You hear people almost glorify a mastectomy," said Lazarovitz. "But the truth of the matter is that you're not getting new breasts, you're having something taken away that is so personal."

Taking back that control is one of the reasons why Christie Ellen decided to apply to get a tattoo. She explained how, in her experience, trying to process having cancer emotionally and then taking recommendations makes it hard to be mentally present. The mind goes into survival mode.

"You're losing your hair, you're losing your breasts. You're left with scars. You're beat up and broken and battered after a year or two years of treatment," said Ellen.

"This is just a beautiful way to take a little bit of that power back."

'It's devastating that we're all here'

Jamie Eppler, from Philadelphia, said her tattoo experience made her realize that in addition to taking back control, the pain she felt physically during her tattoo appointment brought her awareness of her body.

"Every little bit just reminds me that I'm in my body, I'm in control, this is what I want to be doing, versus having surgeries," she said.

As the day went on, Eppler said that in addition to all the love she felt, there was still a feeling of sadness that settled in as her tattoo was finishing up.

"Emotionally I'm so conflicted, so happy, so filled with gratitude, so excited that this whole community is here," said Eppler. "And it's devastating that we're all here … It's really hard that I have to be here, and put my body through this."

Lazarovitz added that it's a long journey that some women continue for, at times, the remainder of their lives. Even as they get their scars covered with tattoos, there are still moments when the pain of the experience resurfaces.

"It's like this terrible group that nobody wants to be a part of," Lazarovitz said. "But, you find your people. And you are able to at least connect with others who understand what you're going through.… All I'm trying to do is to just add a little bit of self-confidence back into their lives."