Montauk Community Rallies to Raise Money to Help Local Tattoo Artist

The Montauk community has come together to help local resident and owner of Lola’s Tattoos, Lola Snow, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.

Lola, who is 67-years-old but likes to “think [she’s] 12-years-old” according to her, was diagnosed with cancer on Sept. 1.

Before opening her Montauk tattoo shop, Lola paved the way for female tattoo artists as one of the first female tattoo artists on the East Coast.

She opened a store in Bogota, New Jersey in the 1970’s, before settling in Montauk about 15 years ago.

The local community has been reaching out to do what they can to help her out.

“Lola has always been a great and generous supporter to all of us: whether as a friend, an employer, a colleague, a neighbor, in the community - we all have Lola stories - all that give us a smile,” the GoFundMe page reads. “She was, and still is trailblazer, and a wonderful force of nature.”

“They’ve been very supportive and loving,” Lola said. “They’ve been a big help to me and I really appreciate them outreaching to me.”

Friends of Lola have even started a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe in order to raise the $50,000 she needs for treatment she is undergoing.

Lola, who attended med school before becoming a tattoo artist, has chosen to undergo natural therapy, as opposed to chemotherapy, which she tried previously but has not worked.

She is passionate on spreading the word on choosing natural therapy, which she has said has improved her quality of life.

“Chemotherapy is pure poison, it causes cancer,” Lola said. “If everything goes well, in the future I hope to teach people about natural therapy.”

Lola will be traveling to Center for Advanced Medicine in North Carolina to begin her 8-week treatment with Dr. Rashid A. Buttar.

“A lot of people in my stage are dead in a year,” she said. “If you don’t do chemotherapy you can live between 5 and 10 years using natural therapy.”

However, the treatment is not covered by insurance, which is why the community is raising money for Lola using the GoFundMe page.

As of Monday, the page has raised $2,365.

“I’m not a rich person, and if you’re not a rich person you need help,” Lola said.