JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — So can it be? A tattoo helps save a woman from dying of breast cancer?
Donna Cato loves to get tattoos from her favorite tattoo artist, Jahson Rucker, at Valei Arts Tattoo on Beach in Jacksonville.
"I claim my tattoo saved my life," Cato says. "My mom died in 2005 and so I've been doing this for quite a long time." She's talking about following Buddy Check 12 and staying on top of any changes in her breast through self exams and mammograms.
Then one day she was lying down and Rucker was working on an area under her arm. Turns out that's the number one most common place for breast cancer to develop.
Rucker says she "could feel swelling and lumps" as he was pushing down her skin to put in ink for the tattoo.
He encouraged Cato to see a doctor. She did. It was breast cancer. And she caught it in time to beat it.
But how was Rucker so sharp about knowing a lumpy area could be a concern? That's where this story turns sad.
Rucker lost his beautiful girlfriend to breast cancer. He knows a lot about the journey.
Cato says Rucker is modest. But she tells him, if he had not spoken up, what could have happened? Her answer, "I wouldn't be here."
Cato's physician at Baptist MD Anderson, Dr. Michael DeFazio, is a board certified plastic surgeon. He's been helping Cato with reconstruction and says her cancer "was about the size of a black bean or a pea." And, yes, the outlook is good for Cato.
He says, "Donna's prognosis is excellent."
Now Cato is turning to, as she says, a very talented tattoo artist (Jahson) again for tattoos to symbolize her journey. She says part of the new ink is a warrior woman.
Rucker, who's anything but egotistical, is grateful he can continue helping Cato. She's grateful the warrior woman inside her is, as she says, "moving ahead."
But she says, most of all, she encourages all women to pay attention to any change in their breasts and speak up -- boldly.
Cato, known for her loyal help planning events for veterans and first responders, says she'll keep spreading that message.
