Widow has late husband’s tattoo cut from his corpse, framed as a ‘cool’ tribute: ‘It does so much more than a picture’

In March, after TJ died suddenly at age 55, Angelica didn’t want a traditional keepsake. Instead, she wanted to frame her husband’s skin to show off her son’s favorite tattoo.

“I knew we were going to do this because we had talked about it before,” Angelica said in a now-viral TikTok video.

Of the more than 70 tatts TJ had inked over his body, they chose to preserve his Pittsburgh Steelers helmet design — complete with skull imagery and finished off in his beloved team’s black and gold colors. It was his first sleeve tattoo, and a favorite of his and their son’s. Preston was the one who ultimately made the final call.

“This is Dad,” he told his mother.

After the funeral, Angelica used a marker to outline the exact tattoo they wanted to preserve on TJ’s right arm. A mortician then carefully removed the skin, placed it in a special preservation kit provided by the Ohio-based company Save My Ink Forever, and sent it off before TJ’s body was cremated.

The preservation process took around 90 days. When the company returned the framed tattoo — encased in glass and set in a dark wooden frame — the moment was overwhelming.

“When he handed it to us, I was shocked,” Angelica told People. “And it was a good shock — so many things you didn’t know you were missing instantly felt better.”

The tattoo still held TJ’s skin texture, the fine details of his wrinkles, even stray hairs.

“This isn’t a replica. You can see his hair, his wrinkles, the ink I kissed goodnight,” Angelica wrote on TikTok.

Angelica and her son say the piece gives them a profound physical and emotional connection they couldn’t get from an urn.

Angelica has since shared her journey of loss and preservation on TikTok, where her video about the tattoo has amassed nearly 30 million views.

Viewers have been divided. While many expressed admiration and support, others compared her decision to something out of a horror story — even comparing her to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

But Angelica isn’t fazed.

“Just because it’s not what you want, you don’t have to make me feel bad about it,” she told People.

“We feel him here a lot, spiritually and energetically,” she continued. “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.”

The widow also hopes her story helps others plan for the unthinkable. Without life insurance, her family faced immense financial pressure after TJ’s passing. Now, she uses her platform to advocate for open conversations about death and end-of-life wishes.

“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,” she suggested. “You can be prepared — both financially and with what you want for your body.”