How a Tattoo Can Be Used to Cope With Loss
- Teen Mom star Mackenzie McKee has revealed that she got a new tattoo to honor her late mother, Angie Douthit, who died of brain cancer.
- In January 2018, Mackenzie McKee's mother was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. She succumbed to the disease in December 2019 at age 50.
- Coping with losing a loved one to cancer looks different for everyone; sometimes, people get tattoos to cope.
The photo McKee shared of her tattoo on Instagram was a mirror selfie, so the text of the tattoo is flipped, however, it appears the tattoo is a Bible verse. (Her mother was well known for sharing a Bible verse daily on her Instagram.)
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Angie Douthit's Cancer Battle
In January 2018, Mackenzie McKee's mother was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer.McKee's mom underwent radiation to treat her brain cancer and later sought out hospice care toward the end of her life. Brain cancer treatment options include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and in some cases, newer treatment options such as Optune.
Optune is a tumor-treating therapy and is only available for patients aged 22 and older. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the treatment in 2015. It is administered with a cap being placed on a person's head in which electric currents run through adhesive pads on the cap. The current interrupts the division of cancer cells, which may slow down or delay the disease's progression.
In 2019, before her death, Douthit shared that her cancer was growing: "I have new tumors in my brain, and the old ones are growing," Douthit wrote on Instagram at the time. "The tumors in both my lungs are progressing and growing again. I have three tumors in my liver. It's in my lymph nodes. And low and behold, it's in my bones, my breast bone and both of my femurs."
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"Yes, we were shocked too. I knew things were strange because I have to take headache medicine, Excedrin and Aleve, twice a day to stop the headaches and body pain I've been having. But I wouldn't have ever guessed this. Apparently immunotherapy was not for me."
She unfortunately passed away from the disease in December 2019 at age 50. (She had finished treatment shortly before her death.)
Despite the tragic loss of her mother, Mackenzie McKee, who is a mom of three, has been able to move through grief with grace, and work through her pain by focusing on things that make her happy, like her commitment to fitness.
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Mackenzie McKee's Tattoo: How a Tattoo Can Be Used to Cope With Loss
Coping with losing a loved one to cancer looks different for everyone; sometimes, people get tattoos to cope.
Some people get tattoos because they like the artwork, and others get them as a way to remember something, someone or a time in their life; in Mackenzie McKee's case, it was to remember her mother and cope with her death.
Related: Beautiful and Badass Survivor Explains Why She Got Mastectomy Tattoos
Many cancer survivors get inked to serve not only as a source of awareness, but also a constant reminder of what they have been through and the fight they endured and/or are still enduring. In the cancer community, specifically breast cancer, it is becoming increasingly more common for women who have had a mastectomy or double mastectomy a surgery to remove the breasts to get nipples tattooed on their new breast implants.
But getting a tattoo can also be a great way to remember someone; it means that person will always be with you. In McKee's case, the Bible verse will always hold meaning for her, as it allows her to remain connected to her mother.
The point is that moving on is different for everyone; dealing with the grief of losing a loved one and recovering from that experience is a highly personal process, and everyone goes through it differently.
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