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Ali Lyon's makes her own mark ....

Ali toyed with the idea of having a party to celebrate her anniversary of 20 years of surviving cancer, but having just had one for her 40th birthday, she decided on something different - a tattoo. "I'm having a tattoo to mark the fact that 20 years ago, I had cancer and that I'm still here 20 years later." There's a reason for choosing to mark her body. Ali explains, "My treatment for cancer was prolonged, and part of it involved radiotherapy. They chose which area of the body was to be irradiated, and marked it with little lines of tattoos with which they lined up the machines. I still have stray blue dots dotted about my body. Having a tatto will mark my body in a way that I have chosen and not in the way fate or the medical profession has chosen..."

The symbol Ali's chosen to have tattooed on her right hip is a spiral, "It illustrates that life's ripples go outwards and inwards. We incorporate into our lives everything that happens to us, the good things, the bad and the painful things." The green and yellow colours Ali chooses for the tatoo, are also important to her, "I think about the greeness of my body, and my lack of 'greeness' in my body... one of the side effects of the treatment was to make my body infertile - I had a premature menopause, which meant I had to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be a mother or grandmother. Being infertile for such a long time has shaped who I am..."

Ali's delighted with the finished tattoo, "It's just the best thing!" she exclaims, "It feels like a best knickers day! You know what that feels like? Well that's what it feels like!"

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