A mother-of-three who had to have both breasts removed during treatment for cancer has had a sexy black bra tattooed on her chest to celebrate her recovery.
Michelle Cole, 42, of Leeds, got the tattoo of a lacy dotted black bra on her now-reconstructed breasts – and she says it looks so realistic that she shows it off to strangers by flashing them in the pub.
She got the £720 inking this year to mark the fifth anniversary of her successful double mastectomy, which helped her to beat breast cancer.
Michelle Cole had a sexy black bra tattooed across her chest, after losing both breasts to cancer
The bra is detailed with curling leaves and dots and looks very much like a real bra from afar
The full-time carer for her daughter Ellie, who has Cerebral Palsy, said: ‘I’ve become a right flasher. At parties, down the pub… everyone wants to see my boobs now.
‘I just started taking my top off and people are amazed when they discover I’ve got a tattoo, not a bra.’
The tattoo took four months of three-hourly sessions every three weeks, between February and July this year at South Of Heaven Tattoo Studio in Wakefield.
The inking is of a strapless bra, with lacy leaves curling off it.
Michelle loves the tattoo so much that she often takes off her top in public to show it off to strangers
Michelle (left) with friend Claire King during chemotherapy. It has been five years since she had her double mastectomy
She explained: ‘I’d been considering having another tattoo for a while, so I started to look online.
‘That’s when I came across the idea of a mastectomy tattoo, like a permanent inked bra. It’s a bit different and a really great way to celebrate my breasts, five years on from the cancer.’
Michelle, who has three children – Ellie Cole, 11, Anthony Thompson, 24, and Brett Thompson, 22 – was diagnosed with cancer after finding a lump in her right breast in bed one morning.
She was also told she carried the mutated BRCA1 gene, significantly increasing her risk of ovarian and breast cancer.
Both her mother and sister died of breast cancer, aged just 49 and 39 respectively.
It took several scans at Leeds General Infirmary, before medics told Michelle and her plumber husband Paul Sephton, 58, that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer.
The tattoo took four month to complete, with the finishing touches being added in July
Michelle with daughter Ellie, who has Cerebral Palsy, in 2008 before she was diagnosed with cancer
‘They said I’d need chemotherapy straight away, but I should think about having a mastectomy in case the genetic testing came back showing my cancer was hereditary,’ she recalled.
‘My sister had the mutated BRCA1 gene, so it was likely that I was a carrier too.’
Devastated, Michelle had eight sessions of chemotherapy, between February and May 2012. She then opted for a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery that July – taking 10 hours – after discovering she had BRCA1.
She said: ‘I had a young daughter to think about. I couldn’t leave her without a mum.’
In June 2015 Michelle decided to have a hysterectomy to reduce her risk of getting ovarian cancer.
Michelle and her partner Paul in the pub, where she now enjoys taking off her top to flash her tattooed breasts at strangers
The tattoo bra has a intricate black leaf design and covers Michelle’s reconstructed breasts
Michelle’s partner Paul loves her tattoo – and says he doesn’t even mind her flashing it at strangers
A biopsy revealed she in fact had a cancerous tumour on her ovaries, but it was removed during the surgery and she was finally cancer free.
So this year, left with breast scarring and without nipples, after Michelle decided against having them tattooed on following surgery, she started thinking of ways to celebrate her survival.
This February, she marked it being five years since she had the double mastectomy, with the astonishing tattoo – first displaying it at a hen party in Benidorm, Spain, this June, by sunbathing topless.
She laughed: ‘I went topless by the hotel pool and other holidaymakers mistook my tattoo for a bikini top.’
She added: ‘It made me feel really proud of everything I’d been through.’
Michelle – who worries her little girl will have the BRCA1 gene – says her husband Paul, who she met 10 years ago DJing in a pub, loves her tattoo.
‘Paul thinks my tattoo is great. I’ve been positive about everything as I have to be. I will encourage Ellie to get tested for the gene and support her if it comes back positive.’
Meanwhile, Paul remains his wife’s biggest fan.
He said: ‘We have an amazing relationship. I’m so proud of her and everything she’s been through. And I don’t mind the flashing at all – it’s a part of her now.’