Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Bethany Townsend's bikini photo goes viral for a good reason

Twenty-three year old aspiring model Bethany Townsend suffers from Chron's disease and took a photo of herself on vacation with her colostomy bag. The photo has now gone viral and other Chron's sufferers are coming forward and posting their own photos with their colostomy bag.

Photo by Bethany Townsend

Bethany Townsend's photo shows the 23-year-old on holiday with two of her colostomy bags visible. The image of Townsend, published on June 21, has been seen by millions - and she was so overwhelmed by the response that she now feels confident enough to pursue modeling.  
Though Townsend's photo has been seen by people all over the world, she is not the first person to take such an image - both male and female patients living with Crohn's disease, as well as those with ulcerative colitis, have taken selfies showing their stomachs, scars and bags and shared them on Facebook. 
Townsend herself has noted others before her have taken colostomy bag bikini selfies.
'When you're on holiday you're in a bit of a bubble and it's much different to when you're back at home,' she said in an interview with Caters. 
'I'd posted a few pictures to Instagram and Facebook but only my friends could see them. 'But after looking on the Internet I saw a few other pictures of girls like me showing off their bags so I thought, why not. I sent [Crohn's and Colitis UK] the picture and my information, and it all blew up from there.'
Bethany and others with a colostomy bag shouldn't be ashamed and I'm glad that Bethany's photo went viral. Social media can be good guys! If you read Bethany's story she's gone through so much and is really an inspiration. I'd rather read stories like this than whatever the Kardashians are doing.

2 comments:

  1. I agree - any kind of non traditional bikini body (disability, size, etc) is good to see. There's so many times of people in the world - we shouldn't just see one type all the time

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed. I've seen enough of Kim Kardashian to last me a lifetime.

      Delete