Local tattoo shops rally to support young woman’s fight against cancer

Local tattoo shops are coming together to help an Indio graduate raise money for her medical bills.

Angelique Melendrez was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in January 2016, in the middle of her senior year at Indio High School. “ALL” is a rare type of leukemia that impacts fewer than 200,000 people a year.

Melendrez started home study and was able to graduate with her class in the spring.

Earlier this month, Melendrez entered remission but her visits to Loma Linda aren’t over.

For the next six months, Melendrez will have to visit Loma Linda in Riverside every other day, causing medical bills and transportation costs to pile up.

A go-fund-me page was created for Melendrez to help raise money, but her cousins, who are part of the local tattoo community, wanted to do more.

“Me and my brother reached out and said hey you know what, we can offer up a raffle to help her out in any way we could. so we’re doing $5 raffle tickets toward a $300 tattoo and all proceeds go toward her,” said Patrick Morgan, Melendrez’s cousin, and tattoo artist.

Melendrez’s goal is to raise $10,000, a fraction of the costs she’s faced with.

“She’s been at the home in Corona for a bit now and it’s starting to rack up. They have to pay for her costs, gas, transportation, food, and her grandma is living with her because it’s assisted living, but they also have to have someone there to assist the family,” Morgan said.

The tattoo raffle will go through August 24. Some of the participating tattoo shops include

760 Tattoo TG Tattoo Blue Rose