You remember us telling you about tattoo artist Shanghai Kate Hellenbrand on BRO this past January.
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At the time, Kate was about to participate in a convention in Austin. However, one hour into her stay in Austin, a slip on a wet concrete ramp snapped her shin bone, took her out of work, and laid her up in a hospital bed for 9 days.
Friends of Kate have set up a fund to help defray medical costs, while she remains prone and unable to work. She says life is "lonely and sucky and painful. But I do have some friends here who help, and I did qualify for Social Security and Medicare...and that's helped."
The upside is that Kate says it may be time to "write that book at long last." This would be one to put on the reading list, as Kate has enjoyed a full and interesting life as a woman tattooist. Like her ink work, don't expect it to be all hearts and flowers.
Says Kate, "Life is a hard hat area for me, for sure."
Image: Kate and tattoo client Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready.
Sorry to hear about the fall. I only wish that she had some sort of government sponsored universal health care program to ensure that her medical needs were taken care of instead of asking strangers to help defray the treatment costs.