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A BRAVE young woman from Worcester has posed in a bikini with her colostomy bags to inspire young people to be more confident about their bodies as she continues the fight against a debilitating bowel disease.
Bethany Townsend, aged 23, of St John’s Worcester who has battled aggressive Crohn’s disease since childhood has become an internet sensation after her holiday snap from Mexico went viral, attracting more than nine million views and has 190,000 “likes” on Facebook.
Crohn’s disease is a condition that causes inflammation of the digestive system, affecting the sufferer’s ability to digest food, absorb nutrients and eliminate waste.
In extreme situations, like Ms Townsend’s it becomes neccessary to remove the damaged section of the intestine and bring the healthy part out as a stoma – known as a colostomy.
She said: “When I first had the bags fitted I was devastated – the reaction to this photo has really helped me accept them.”
Ms Townsend was first diagnosed with the condition when she was only three years old.
She had a range of surgery to try and combat Crohn’s, but with no success.
Her bowel ruptured in 2010, and she woke from a life saving operation to discover she had been fitted with two colostomy bags.
She said: “When I first woke up and my mum told me about them I was just relieved as I’d thought I was going to die.
“When I came out of hospital and everything finally sunk in, I remember going upstairs into my bedroom and just bursting into tears.
“I’d known a colostomy bag might have been an option but it was always something that I had wanted to avoid.
“I had a really good cry that day, and since then I haven’t shed another tear – I’ve just got on with it I suppose.”
Agencies/Canadajournal
