It was one of those days I will never forget.
I was monitoring the Fight CRC Instagram account and noticed a post we’d been tagged in. I dove in deeper and realized a well-liked guy with a lot of followers had just gone public on social media with his story. He had stage IV colon cancer at age 33. He was really sick. He powerfully illustrated the trauma he faced through a soundless video and index cards.
Support from hundreds of his followers poured in as I tried to figure out why this guy had so many people commenting on his post. Then I realized he was a contestant on Ink Masters and had the world watching him not only tattoo, but now fight colorectal cancer.
I immediately reached out to him. Not because it was my job, but because I knew what it felt like to be a young person fighting for your life. I wanted him to know my story, how I’d been diagnosed with colon cancer at age 17 and 25, and that he wasn’t alone.
He replied to my email quickly, which surprised me. Many times my messages to those with big followings fall into an abyss. But not with Clint Cummings. From the second he responded, I felt like we’d become instant friends.
A picture of Clint hangs on the wall at his shop Sparrows
Online Connections
Over the weeks and months that followed, I began to keep in touch with Clint. He texted me health updates and asked questions. He downloaded Fight CRC’s Guide in the Fight to understand what was next in treatment. At one point he even needed a buddy to talk to and my friend Marty from The Colon Club jumped in.
He saw very little awareness going to colon cancer compared to other diseases, and he really wanted the tattoo industry to get behind him. He wanted to help sick kids, to save lives. He loved action figures and heroes - which little did he know, he would become one.
A hero.
I was always inspired by his quest to make a difference no matter how bad he felt. He was a no-holding-back type of guy which was, and still is, a huge asset for colon cancer awareness. He didn’t hide his ostomy and said very plainly (and explicitly) how much colon cancer sucks. The videos he did for the YouTube channel Needle Boys show his transparency - there’s one where he explains how it hurt to lay in bed. Very few people would have the courage to show and explain what he did.
In just a short time, he got involved with Fight CRC as much as he was able. He hosted an event called The Art of Heroes and we had several advocates attend. He also took over the Fight CRC Instagram on a trip to New York during an Ink Masters finale to help show his support to our community. He so badly wanted to use his platform to help others.
I don’t think anyone expected him to face more bad news when he did - his cancer was growing. And it didn’t look good.
Goodbye, Clint.
He got really quiet on social media soon after that. I was curious about his health and reached out, we texted and he explained his cancer had grown but he was determined to fight. He fought hard until he passed on Dec. 23, 2016 - around six months ago. It was a sad loss felt by the entire tattoo community as well as our Fight CRC family who had become close with his story.
Biomarked.
The grief from his loss was, and still is, heavy. It was at the top of my mind when we began the development of the Fight CRC Biomarked campaign. A team of creatives came up with an idea and stories that used tattoos to explain “biomarkers” to colorectal cancer patients. Explaining biomarkers is tough- but like a tattoo, biomarkers are unique to each cancer patient’s tumor. The tattoo theme made biomarkers easy to understand and relatable - something I knew Clint would get behind. Using his story as inspiration was a no-brainer. He would have jumped at the chance to be involved in anything that helped cancer patients. We reached out to his family and they quickly invited us to shoot photos and videos in Clint’s tattoo shop, Sparrows. We proudly dedicated the campaign to him.
Clint’s family and friends at Sparrows quickly invited Fight CRC to come use the shop to raise awareness and keep his story out there.
More than a Job
Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Clint’s stomping grounds, meet his family and friends and see life through his eyes. I even got an arrow tattoo put on my arm during one of my Dallas trips to remind me to keep fighting and pursuing freedom. I get to both live as a cancer survivor and work for an organization that fights it each day. The trips to Sparrows renewed and reminded me of my passion for advocacy.
Me with Nay Nay, Clint’s mom, at Sparrows
Getting my arrow tattoo at Sparrows
Maybe it’s the plight of a survivor - this feeling of duty I have to keep the stories of Clint and other friends I’ve lost out there.
When we make it off the front lines ourselves, we tell what happened to us in the hopes nobody else ever has to go through it. We tell about those who we met along the way who never made it home. We tell of both the horrors and heroism. We show the scars, we get tattoos. We create campaigns, we educate and we raise awareness. We fight for each other and we fight for others.
It’s what legacies like that of Clint Cummings beg us to do.