Woman Frames Husband's Tattooed Skin After His Death to Preserve His Memory. She Was 'Shocked' by the Result (Exclusive)

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3 days ago

'When we want to know he's here, we can hold the frame, and it does so much more than a picture,' Angelica Radevski tells PEOPLENEED TO KNOW
Angelica Radevski, a 35-year-old nurse, decided to frame the skin of her husband's tattoo after he suddenly died earlier this year
She tells PEOPLE that she learned about the option when she was a kid, and it always 'stuck with' her
'When we want to know he's here, we can hold the frame, and it does so much more than a picture,' says RadevskiAs Angelica Radevski remembers her late husband, she doesn't hesitate to mention his love of sports. 'It was constantly ESPN on the radio or the TV,' she tells PEOPLE. And his favorite team to follow was the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Radevski, a 35-year-old nurse from Wheeling, W.Va., and her husband had been close friends their entire lives — she had actually worked for his dad at a local restaurant for a decade. Together, the couple raised a son, now 10 years old, and they tied the knot in 2021.
'He was just the type of person where if you met him, even just one time at the grocery store or the gym, he left an impression of being such a loving, happy person,' says Radevski.
Her husband was also covered in tattoos — 'from his neck all the way down to his feet,' says Radevski. 'Every tattoo that he had was a piece of his life. It was like therapy. It was his healing.'
So when her husband died unexpectedly at age 55 earlier this year, Radevski continues, it only felt natural to frame one of his tattoos for his memory to continue to live alongside her and their son in their home.
Radevski says she was a kid when she first learned from Ripley's Believe It or Not! about the Ohio-based company, Save My Ink Forever, which allows loved ones to preserve the skin of a tattoo in a frame after their death.
'I never questioned why it stuck with me,' says Radevski.
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While they were married, she brought up the idea of framing a tattoo to her husband several times, and 'he thought it was really cool,' she adds.
After her husband's funeral, Radevski had the chance to use a marker to outline the tattoo they wanted to frame — a Steelers helmet on his right arm from his first sleeve, which their son Preston remembered was his favorite. Then the mortician removed the skin, placed it in a preservation kit, and mailed it to Save My Ink Forever, before her husband's body was cremated.
After roughly 90 days, the company reached out to Radevski: they were ready 'to bring him home,' she says.
'When he handed it to us, I was shocked,' she recalls. 'And it was a good shock — so many things you didn't know you were missing instantly felt better.'
And when she and her son took a closer look at the Steelers tattoo, preserved behind the glass of a dark wooden frame, Preston noticed that you could even make out his original hair on the skin.
'Then I was laughing,' continues Radevski. 'With his tattoos, my husband would shave his arms and legs — and you could see the spots that he missed. It took it to a different level. It was like, 'OK, he's really home.' '
In the wake of her husband's death, Radevski decided to share her process of grieving on TikTok — because she knew that if she was feeling alone, she tells PEOPLE, there were others who were going through the same thing.
She adds that, because her husband didn't have life insurance, her family was hit by an extreme financial burden, and she wanted to use her platform to spread awareness about the need for planning in the case of tragedies like hers.
'Instead of planning for a wedding for a year, why don't we start planning and making it normal and not so ugly to talk about death,' says Radevski. 'You can be prepared — both financially and with what you want for your body.'
When she received her husband's framed tattoo, she shared it with her followers — and the video took off, garnering nearly 30 million views. Like any reaction to a viral post, some of the comments were negative: likening her to Jeffrey Dahmer or calling the process mutilation, says Radevski.
But those were 'outweighed' by the love she received from others who felt lucky to learn that this was an option, she explains.
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'Some were like, 'I wish I had known about this — I just lost my husband and my son,' ' says Radevski.
And the comments that warmed her heart the most, she continues, were the ones from rival sports fans who sent their condolences but still couldn't get on board with rooting for the Steelers: 'When they say, 'I'm so sorry for you and your son and I'm praying for you, but go Bengals,' ' she points out of some of the comments.
Though she recognizes that framing a tattoo might not be for everyone, Radevski says she hopes her videos can help normalize the process for those who might get a similar kind of solace after losing a loved one.
'Just because it's not what you want, you don't have to make me feel bad about it,' says Radevski.
'We feel him here a lot, spiritually and energetically,' she continues. 'But this is that piece that we really, really needed. When we want to know he's here, we can hold the frame, and it does so much more than a picture.'
Read the original article on People