The tattoo I had a choice to get ! Done by Miami Ink Star Chris Nunez

I already told you about my first tattoo given to me by the girls at Radiation. If you don’t know about that you need to read my older post, My Very First Tattoo…not what I expected. Before the BIG C came into my life I was sure I would never ever get a tattoo. I didn’t have any moral objections to tattoos but they just weren’t for me. As I told you before I was given four tattoos, very small dots but tattoos none the less, in order to have my radiation.

When I finished my treatments I spent some time in Western Mass. recovering. As soon as I felt well enough to actually walk more than five feet I decided to fly back to Florida. This was a very trying time in my life. I just beat cancer, it was over! I thought my treatments would never end and to be honest I didn’t think I was going to survive my battle. When I got back to Florida I was so confused, lost and angry. I didn’t know what I was suppose to do now or who I was suppose to be. I had a very difficult time adjusting to life after cancer. As some of you may know when you are in treatments everyone is always swarming around you, caring for you, doing almost everything for you including bathing and feeding you. Now I was on my own. I hadn’t driven a car in about 6 months, I just started going to the bathroom on my own without the bags it was a crazy time.

After a lot of thought I decided I was going to write into the television show Miami Ink. I felt like I needed to do something with my new life and getting a tattoo seemed perfect. The Old Meaghan would never have gotten a tattoo. She was afraid of needles, afraid of permanency and concerned about what others would think. The old Meaghan was gone though. No matter what I did I could never get her back, Cancer took her. Who was the NEW Meaghan? This I could not tell you but I knew I needed to start figuring it out. I thought this was the perfect place to start.

I decided that if Miami Ink didn’t respond to my letter I wouldn’t get the tattoo. I figured going on the show would be the perfect way to share my story with the world! My second thought was, this tattoo will be on my body for the rest of my life so it better be good!! I got the call about two weeks after I wrote in. The producers loved my story and ask if I would be willing to drive to their office and do an interview to make sure they wanted me.

Well I said yes, of course. I drove down to South Beach and met with a producer who sat me down and started asking lots of questions. This was the first time someone, who I didn’t know, asked me about my experience. Telling my story was a lot easier than I had imagined it would be, it actually felt great! I wanted a lotus on my back around my scars. The lotus flower stands for the emergence of beauty out of ugliness. This sounded so perfect. My scars represented an ugly time in my life but I wasn’t going to let that continue. I was going to take control of this ugly thing that happened to me and turn it into something inspiring and beautiful. The producers hated it!! I was told the guys at Miami Ink absolutely would not do a lotus flower b/c it had been done too many times before. “Oh well” I said. My tattoo had meaning and I wasn’t about to compromise that for anyone so I left and told them to call me if they changed their minds.

I got a call an hour later, “well do it”. So that is how I got onto Miami Ink. The story about my experience filming the show is for another post but I will say it changed my life. The tattoo and the experience truly marked the birth of the new Meaghan. And, I love the NEW Meaghan! Sometimes I miss the Old Meaghan but I have those memories and will cherish them forever. New Meaghan, welcome to the world and start kicking butt!!

If you want to watch my episode you can purchase it off of I-Tunes for 1.99. I am in the second episode of season six. Sorry I don't have a Youtube of the episode, I'm not computer savvy enough to figure out how to do it :(