Some people get one tattoo for a deceased loved one, but Jan Hovens (39) from Tilburg has dedicated his entire arm to his father. From a guitar and harmonica for the music they played together to his father’s Chinese zodiac sign. “I had a very close bond with him, but I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
Jan has an intellectual disability and that is why he lives in Tilburg at a location of the Amarant care organization. It is a green area with many trees and Jan really likes that. “I always go for a walk in the fall, normally too, but in the fall I go to the woods even more. That reminds me of Dad.”
Jan’s father died in 2011. “He had a bad variant of leukemia. That’s what started it and then he got a tumor on top of it. Ultimately he became disabled. The cancer caused complications and due to two doctor’s errors I was unable to say goodbye. Dad was in the ICU (intensive care unit) and it happened the next day.”
To make sense of his father’s death, Jan had several tattoos placed on his arm. “I have a path with a forest and autumn leaves, because my father and I always walked in the Mastbos and the Liesbos in Breda. We thought autumn was the most beautiful period with the leaves.”
Jan also tattooed the date of death and a clock with the time of death. “And a rose for love and a harmonica and guitar because that’s what we played together. And Toine, because that’s his name.”
“‘We’re going for it’ also applies to me, because if I want something 100 percent, I go for it 100 percent.”
The pine cone on his arm is also for his father. “My grandfather died when my parents had been married for two years. That grave was in the woods in Venlo. My parents lived in Breda and they had no means or driving license to go to the grave often.”
Once every six months, Jan’s father went to grandfather’s grave. “Then he took a pine cone from there and slept with it under his pillow. When he went back to the grave after six months, he put the pine cone back and took another one with him.”
Furthermore, his arm says ‘we’re going for it’ and ‘it could always be worse’. “Dad always had two slogans. ‘We’re going for it’ also applies to me, because if I want something 100 percent, I will go for it 100 percent.
And this is evident from Jan’s performance. A few years ago he rode the Mont Ventoux on a racing bike through an Amarant project. “I did that for the cancer fund. And I participated in three years in a row Swim to Fight Cancer.”
Jan misses his father, but luckily he still has his mother. “My mother is my everything. She is now happily retired and we became very close after my dad died. We go to the grave on his birthday and the anniversary of his death,” says Jan. “We won’t be taking a pine cone with us, but we may have to to keep Dad’s tradition alive.”
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