Maariana Vikse | Beginning her healing journey
Patients are on their own when it comes to recovery, Maariana opera singer says. She found an FDA-approved treatment in a chatroom, but astoundingly, the hospital she’d been going to didn’t believe it was a real treatment. She had to find treatment somewhere else, which cost her a year of pain. Additionally, the radiation tattoos on her body, which mark the area to be treated, were a constant reminder of the trauma she’d experienced. “When you are not thinking about your cancer, and then you look at yourself in the mirror, and you see something that reminds you, it brings it all back.” She decided to get them removed as soon as possible. “I emailed every tattoo removal place in New York City; no one would do it for free,” she says—except for the Removery. For a breast cancer survivor struggling with huge financial burdens, that was a wonderful gift. “The moment I walked into their location, it was all warmth, all smiles. It was this feeling of, I’m in a safe place, and they’re g