Suck it Cancer

The past few weeks have been rough ones.  My husband was diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer.  The positive side is that we were able to catch it in Stage One with no spread.  The hardest part about all of this was actually waiting for the biopsy and scan results.  I drew the sketch for this while he was getting his CT scan and have since refined it on water color paper.  I will paint this version but my friend (and talented tattoo artist) is going to tattoo it to my forearm in a few weeks.  The ribbon will be purple, orchids are associated with testicular cancer due to the root word for orchid in Latin meaning testicle (apparently whoever named orchids thought they looked like testicles...and also felt that would make a great flower name). 

In any case the journey is not over but the out look is extremely positive. What I am finding is how few people know that testicular cancer is a young man's affliction (usually found ages 20-50) so keep a sharp eye out boys!  It was only speed and vigilance that kept this from claiming my husband's life. 

I'm getting this large tattoo in hopes that people will ask me about it's meaning and I can help spread awareness.