Jordan’s Story:
When our son was only two, he became a Cancer Survivor. Victory demanded a piece of him though; his tailbone was removed to cut the Cancer out at its root. In that surgery, our old world vanished. We emerged with a clarity that only comes from staring down the unthinkable. We learned that time isn’t a resource to be managed, but a sacred gift to be held with trembling hands.

This tattoo—a ribbon intertwined with the delicate structure of a spine—is the visual echo of his sacrifice and his strength, the jagged line between the “before” and the “after”. I placed it on my wrist so it would always be in my line of sight. It is my compass and my anchor. In moments of chaos or complacency, I look down and remember the hospital rooms and the miracle of his breath. It is a quiet, indelible vow to live every day with the devotion it deserves, honoring the boy who fought to give us this “after.”

Tattoo art by Emily with Rebel Muse Tattoo, Dallas, TX