Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
The Doc Project

Tattooing over trauma: one woman's journey to reclaim her body

When Jessica Grillanda's mother and sister were diagnosed with breast cancer, she decided it was time for drastic action. Without ever being diagnosed, she had a double mastectomy. But even after surgery to reconstruct her breasts, there was part of her body — and spirit — that needed attention.
CBC Radio ·
Jessica Grillanda, her mom and sister are super close. They look alike, sound alike, think alike … and they also share the same achilles heel: breast cancer.
The Doc Project27:30Tattooing over trauma: one woman's journey to reclaim her body

[PLEASE NOTE: THIS POST CONTAINS MATURE IMAGES OF THE HUMAN BODY]

Try this: close your eyes. Now focus on your left ankle. Your right ear. Your teeth. When was the last time you really noticed your teeth? Most of the time it's easy to take the bits and pieces that make up our bodies for granted.

Until one of them stops working. Or, through disease or accident, goes missing.

Try to stop thinking about it then.

When Jessica Grillanda's mother and sister were diagnosed with breast cancer, she decided it was time for drastic action.

Without ever being diagnosed, she had a double mastectomy; a precaution to keep cancer at bay. But even after surgery to reconstruct her breasts, there was part of her body — and spirit — that needed attention.

Producer's Notebook

Talking about my private parts on public radio

By Jessica Grillanda

When my sister was diagnosed with metastasized breast cancer, I opted to have a prophylactic mastectomy. And, as you'll hear in my radio documentary (and see in these photos), my 3-D nipple tattoos are the end product of two-and-a-half years of breast reconstruction. Continue reading →

About the producer

Jessica Grillanda
Jessica Grillanda is an English professor at Cambrian College in her hometown, Sudbury. Throughout her 20s, she worked for CBC Radio and Radio Canada International. She has also freelanced from Thailand, Ghana, and Louisiana, U.S.A. Jessica has reported on a broad range of topics, from farming to pop culture to migration issues, but this is her first time telling a personal story for broadcast.

Related Stories