News 12 delves deeper into something usually not talked about when it comes to breast cancer – the survivors’ journey to look and feel whole again.
Dawn Fortis has not had it easy. Within a year of recovering from colon cancer, she found out she had breast cancer in 2007.
Fortis had a double mastectomy and conquered cancer, but the uphill battle, in some ways, was just beginning.
“I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror,” she said. “I would change my shirt. I wouldn’t look up. I wouldn’t look at myself.”
Fortis hasn’t seen the beauty in her in a long time, but one day, a real-life guardian angel who knows how to deal with a tattoo machine helped Dawn regain her confidence.
Carrie Maldonato, who owns a spa called CariAngel’s, gave Fortis three-dimensional areolas and nipples designed especially for her.
“Every areola color I make, I mix it up to measure, and there’s never a straight color that I use,” says Maldonato.
Maldonato says she has tattooed more areolas than she can count on patients around the world.
Fortis had their first session with Maldonato a few years ago and returned on Tuesday for a touch-up.
The feeling of newfound strength and confidence still overwhelms her.
“I went from not wanting to watch to not being able to stop watching. She made me feel whole again,” says Fortis.
