In 1906 Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the father of modern neuroscience, was co-awarded the Nobel Prize
in medicine “in recognition of [his] work on the structure of the
nervous system,” mapping of many hundreds of neurons, and discovery of
new types of neural structures.
Seeing as I have multiple sclerosis, a disorder in which my neurons are attacked by my blood cells, it seemed obvious that I should somehow incorporate neurons into my MS tattoo. Enter my very talented artist Aaron, formerly of Bodyworks Tattoo Studio, who helped me design something truly beautiful.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the lotus is considered to be a symbol of purity and healing. In my tattoo, the root system of the lotus is an original drawing by Ramón y Cajal of a pyramidal neuron similar to the ones in the human motor cortex, where I have a lot of demyelination. The symbolism there is that the lotus is bringing healing purity to my neurons, and in turn my damaged neurons are feeding my path toward purity and enlightenment.
The butterfly is there in place of the MS ribbon, because I was genuinely worried about people giving me drippy sympathy if they saw a ribbon and asked about it. The [new] MS ribbon is orange and I’ve seen a lot of people use butterflies in place of the ribbon on tattoos and t-shirts and the like.
The line on top is from "Crush" by Dave Matthews Band. I have a life-long love affair with Dave Matthews Band - I remember waiting in line for hours outside of Scotty’s Records back in 1996 for the release of their second album. Naturally it was his words that I wanted to have on my arm, and nothing seemed more apt than “By love we’ll beat back the pain we’ve found.”
So there you have it! My MS tattoo, which has since grown to be part of a full sleeve devoted to chronic illness and chronic depression.
I love my tats.
Seeing as I have multiple sclerosis, a disorder in which my neurons are attacked by my blood cells, it seemed obvious that I should somehow incorporate neurons into my MS tattoo. Enter my very talented artist Aaron, formerly of Bodyworks Tattoo Studio, who helped me design something truly beautiful.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the lotus is considered to be a symbol of purity and healing. In my tattoo, the root system of the lotus is an original drawing by Ramón y Cajal of a pyramidal neuron similar to the ones in the human motor cortex, where I have a lot of demyelination. The symbolism there is that the lotus is bringing healing purity to my neurons, and in turn my damaged neurons are feeding my path toward purity and enlightenment.
The butterfly is there in place of the MS ribbon, because I was genuinely worried about people giving me drippy sympathy if they saw a ribbon and asked about it. The [new] MS ribbon is orange and I’ve seen a lot of people use butterflies in place of the ribbon on tattoos and t-shirts and the like.
The line on top is from "Crush" by Dave Matthews Band. I have a life-long love affair with Dave Matthews Band - I remember waiting in line for hours outside of Scotty’s Records back in 1996 for the release of their second album. Naturally it was his words that I wanted to have on my arm, and nothing seemed more apt than “By love we’ll beat back the pain we’ve found.”
So there you have it! My MS tattoo, which has since grown to be part of a full sleeve devoted to chronic illness and chronic depression.
I love my tats.
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| Fresh ink. |
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| Healed ink. I stand by the conviction that freckles make tattoos cooler by adding texture. The bougainvillea below are similar to a photograph in my therapist's office that I often stare at when I need something to focus on while regaining control of my breathing. |
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| Original drawing by Santiago Ramón y Cajal. |
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