"She's Given Me My Life Back" - Jackie's Story and Why I Do What I Do
A few months ago, I had the absolute pleasure of being invited onto the Geordie Pride podcast - a wonderful show celebrating the stories and people of the North East, hosted by Haley and Angela.
What made this episode particularly special was that I didn't go alone. I was joined by Jackie - one of my clients - who agreed to share her story openly and honestly. And honestly, she was incredible.
You can watch the full episode on the Geordie Pride YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, or listen below.
Jackie's journey
Jackie has been through more than most. Two breast cancers - in 2001 and 2007 - a stomach cancer, double mastectomy, and two reconstructions, each using different tissue from different parts of her body. She'd had areola tattooing through the NHS after her surgeries, but as she explained on the podcast, it faded quickly and the results were basic.
When a friend mentioned my work to her, she got in touch. And the rest, as she put it, is history.
What she said during the episode has stayed with me:
"When I looked in the mirror it was just like, 'Wow.' I feel like a woman again. She's given me my life back."
She also told us that after her first session, she went topless on the beach for the first time. Something she said she would never have done before.
I'm not going to pretend that doesn't mean everything.
What we talked about
We covered a lot of ground in the episode - more than I can do justice to here. But the things that felt most important to me were:
The difference between NHS areola tattooing and specialist work.
The NHS offers areola tattooing as part of post-surgery care, and breast care nurses do an incredible job throughout a patient's treatment. But tattooing is a craft that takes years of dedicated practice. When you come to a specialist, the approach is different - we work with light, shadow, dimension and skin tone to create something that looks genuinely three-dimensional and real, not just a flat outline of colour. Jackie's plastic surgeon in Geneva - when she showed him her NHS tattoos years ago - actually asked her why she didn't have 3D. She didn't even know it existed.
That's exactly the problem I'm trying to solve. The awareness gap is real.
Every client is different.
Scar tissue is unpredictable. Two people with similar surgeries can have completely different experiences in the chair. Some clients feel very little - some have even fallen asleep during sessions. Others find it more sensitive, particularly where the tissue is denser or where reconstruction has been more complex. Jackie has two different reconstructions and found one side easier than the other - which is completely normal. We work through it together, session by session, with eight weeks of healing time between each one.
It's not just about the tattoo.
Jackie said at one point that she probably comes back partly just for a chat. And she's not wrong - we have become friends. When someone sits with you for a couple of hours across multiple sessions, through something this personal, you can't help but get close. I learn about their life, their family, their journey. And sometimes they don't want to talk about the cancer at all - they want to talk about everything else. That's fine too. Whatever they need.
The work goes further than areola tattooing.
We also talked about scalp micropigmentation for those going through hair loss during chemotherapy, eyebrow tattooing for clients who want their brows in place before treatment starts, and the broader possibilities of restorative tattooing for those who want to mark their journey in a different way. There's so much that can be done.
Why I wanted to share this
I do this work because of people like Jackie.
Not because it's technically interesting - though it is. Not because it's artistically satisfying - though that matters to me too. But because of that moment when someone sits up, looks in the mirror, and something shifts.
"My confidence was rock bottom. And now I'll whip them out as much as I want. Proud and show them to whoever wants to see them."
That's Jackie. Six years on from her last cancer diagnosis. Loving life, living loudly, and - her words - giving them a shake whenever she fancies.
That's the job. ,
Listen to the full episode
There’s a few ways to listen depending on your choice of platform. Hre is the full episode on /Apple Podcasts. The full conversation is on the Geordie Pride YouTube channel - Season 3, Episode 1. Haley and Angela are wonderful hosts and Jackie had us all a bit emotional at points, with plenty of laughs in between. Worth an hour of your time.
If you'd like to find out more about areola tattooing and what the process involves, you can read more on my areola tattooing page or get in touch to have a conversation.
With thanks to Haley and Angela at Geordie Pride for having us, and to Jackie for being so generous in sharing her story.