A homeless man paid by a stag party in Benidorm to have his groom’s name tattooed on his forehead is finally on his way to having it removed.
Every two months for the past year, Tomek Matuszewki, 39, of Poland, has undergone an excruciating four-minute procedure to have the Brit’s name removed.
Most of the tattoo has now been removed, although he still has three final sessions to go, as the skin on his forehead is too thin to remove it all at once.
“It’s the worst pain of my life,” Matuszewki said.
Tomek Matuszewki, 39, received money from a stag party in Benidorm to tattoo the groom’s name, ‘Jamie Blake’ on his forehead.
“It’s like a very hot iron pressing on your forehead every second: a dental abscess is nothing compared to this.”
In 2018, the trained chef was living on the streets of the well-known resort when the gang of drunken Brits offered him €100 to get the tattoo.
Desperate and hungry, having walked to Spain after a painful separation from a fiancée at his home in Poland, he willingly agreed.
But it was only the next morning, when she woke up with the name ‘Jamie Blake’ on her forehead, that she realized the demeaning humiliation.
Every two months for the past year, Mr Matuszewki has undergone an excruciating four-minute procedure to have the Brit’s name removed.
The trained chef still has three final sessions as the skin on his forehead is too thin to remove the tattoo in one go.
The intention was for Mr. Matuszewki to also have ‘North Shields, NE28’, Blake’s home address, inked on his forehead, but he could not bear the agonizing pain after the first two letters and they had to stop.
‘It was terrible afterwards, I felt like everyone was looking at me. I had to go everywhere with a hat. I even got calls from friends in Poland who had read about it in the news,” he said.
While most people sympathized with his situation, for others it was a sign that they might treat him as “less valuable because he lived on the street.”
News of the cruel stunt caused an uproar at the time, both in Spain and abroad, with the Benidorm British Business Association calling it “completely inhumane and akin to abuse”.
Mr. Matuszewki called for the member of the stag, who he claims paid him to get inked, and for the tattoo artist to be jailed.
But he has revealed that he has received “zero apologies” or even communication from Blake or one of those responsible.
‘Would you do that to your worst enemy?’ Matuszewki asked.
Now he wants Blake, who moved from Tyneside to Benidorm three months earlier and worked on the strip, to apologize publicly and pay the bill for the tattoo removal, which has come to around €1,500 so far.
Matuszewki, who walked from Poland to Spain after breaking up with his fiancée, was recently diagnosed with osteonecrosis in both hips, in which the bone has died.
Matuszewki also dismissed Blake’s dastardly claims to the Evening Chronicle that he was not a real victim and that he was not paid as “outright lies”.
He stated that Matuszewki “is not a bum, he lives with my friend and works on the strip.” I got drunk and they asked me to leave the bar. I’ve never been to the tattoo parlor and as far as I know they didn’t pay him anything.
But since the disgusting event, Mr. Matuszewki’s life has improved, including having regular tattoo removal sessions, funded and supported by homeless charity Project4all.
With the help of the nonprofit, Mr. Matuszewki got off the streets, overcame his drinking problem and now works shifts with them.
Help deliver food, clothing and support to homeless people in the 130 km ‘food race’ along the Costa Blanca, including Jávea, Calpe, Altea, Albir and Benidorm.
“I have my own room, and every day I try to help people on the street, with food, clothes, a little talk and a smile with them, so they know they are not alone,” he said. explained.
Despite the change in his life, Mr. Matuszewki was recently diagnosed with osteonecrosis in both hips, in which the bone died.
His case was so serious that the doctor who diagnosed him was amazed that he could have walked to the clinic with only the help of a cane.
It may have been triggered by the incredible shape in which he found himself in Spain, after walking all the way from Poland for a year to escape a bad break up with his fiancée at the time.
Due to the condition, he is unable to work in his profession as a chef, so he finds himself without any kind of medical care to cover such a serious condition.
Netherlands-based Project4all has been raising funds to finance the two operations to replace each bone in Mr Matuszewki’s hip, with a target of €18,000 for the operations to be carried out privately.
As part of this, they are organizing a 100 km walk in 24 hours to raise funds on February 4 which they have dubbed El Paseo de las Caderas, which will consist of 20 5 km laps around Benissa.
To help Tomek Matuszewki make a proper recovery, you can donate to his Gofundme page. here.