The tattooist skating for breast cancer survivors

Gemma Bowers (top left) is a multi award-winning medical tattoo artist from East Cowes

A tattooist is taking on a "skateathon" fundraising challenge to provide free areola tattoos for breast cancer survivors.

Gemma Bowers owns a salon in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, where she carries out cosmetic tattoos, but also specialises in medical tattoos for women who have undergone a mastectomy.

Starting in East Cowes on 3 August, she will be joined by a group of friends and volunteers as they attempt to complete a marathon on roller skates.

Gemma said: "It's like having something amputated and we're giving it back.

It's part of being a woman and you're giving someone back their femininity and their dignity."

Gemma said it was after her best friend asked if she would tattoo her breasts that she started gaining attention for her work.

"I practiced and practiced and posted about it online, which is when I had other ladies coming to me asking, 'can you do mine?'," she said.

After gaining a reputation for her work on social media, she began teaching other artists how to carry out mastectomy tattoos.

"It kind of just organically happened from there and got bigger and bigger," she said.

Gemma said a lot of the women who she gave tattoos to came away in tears.

"It's lovely to see and I don't think there is any other treatment like it," she added.

Gemma can tattoo areola on the chests of woman who have had mastectomy surgery

Gemma also set up a charity, the TATA Foundation, to raise funds to cover the costs of areola tattooing for those who need it the most.

And after only putting roller-skates on for the first time in January, Gemma said she now has 12 other people joining her for this year's fundraising challenge.

"I posted it on Instagram and then a few people said they would like to do it and I said 'yes the more the merrier'," she said.

"We've been trying to find the flattest and safest area because if you hit a stone you're going over."

They challenge will start in East Cowes, before moving to the boating lake in Ryde, the cycle path between Cowes and Newport and back, before finally finishing at Skates in Newport.