Sunday 14 June 2015

Cancer survivor angered over #HoldACokeWithYourBoobsChallenge...

Brave mother-of-two Leeanne Curry, centre, had both of her breasts removed to stay alive for her young sons Jake, left, and Rhys, right



In just 24 hours the photograph of Leeanne's mastectomy scars was shared more than 57,000 times on Facebook

Cancer survivor Leeanne Curry has hit out at 'silly' breast awareness campaigns by posting a photograph of her double mastectomy scars on Facebook.
The 36-year-old, from Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire, was so angered by social media crazes - including one started by 'adult entertainment' scout Danny Frost that saw women hold a Coca-Cola can between their breasts - that she decided to show the heartbreaking reality of the disease.
In just 24 hours, the mother-of-two's post - where she pleads with women to check their 'damn boobs' - was shared online more than 57,000 times. 
To date it has been shared 109,205 times and 'liked' 2,816 times. 
Brave Leeanne was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in June 2012.
After undergoing 16 gruelling round of chemotherapy, she made the agonising decision to have both of her breasts removed earlier this year in a desperate bid to stay alive for her two young sons, Jake, 10, and five-year-old Rhys.


Tests revealed that she had a faulty gene that meant there was an 89 per cent chance of her cancer returning.
Leeanne revealed how the '#HoldACokeWithYourBoobsChallenge' frustrated her so much that she decided to share an image of her mastectomy scars with the world.
'I was just fed up of people posting these trends that get so diluted they have nothing to do with breast cancer. When I saw these girls getting their boobs out on Twitter I wondered what it was.

'Then I saw the hashtag and read it had been started by some porn baron and I was just infuriated.' 
Leeanne said it is 'disgusting' to make a game out of the disease: 'I have no qualms showing my scars to anyone. If girls want to get their boobs out on social media then fine - but not in the name of breast cancer.
'If girls are just putting it up to get likes or shares, that's not right - they need to go and check themselves.
'It's disgusting trying to make a game out of it. It's not fluffy, it's not pink. It's a disease that can kill you and it's not to be mocked.'


Leeanne's Facebook post, which she uploaded alongside the intimate image on 3 June 2015, read: 'Ok folks another 'game' for breast cancer awareness is to hold a coke can in between your boobs and post on social media … I shall get right on that one shall I?
'Last time I looked cancer is not a game. Cancer patients do not care if you can put a coke can between your tits or how many tattoos too have, what colour your bra is or where you leave your f****** hand bag.
'And the worst one ever 'just used my boobs to get out of a spending ticket' f*** off with that one!
'This photo and yes it's me is true breast cancer awareness … If you are offended delete me! I have these scars cause I didn't fancy dying anytime soon … Don't get involved in these silly game just check your damn boobs!'
She recently replied to the thousands of fans who sent overwhelming messages of support posting: 'Thanks to the nearly 5,000 people who have shared my photo and to nearly 2,000 people who took part 2 minutes out of their day to mail me I promise I will reply to you each of you at some point. Overwhelmed at all of this......'
However, some users appear to have found the post offensive and have reported the hard-hitting pictures to Facebook. 
'But to the people/person who keeps reporting it just STOP Facebook have a policy that mastectomy scars are NOT nudity it's been reported 57 times.' 
She added: 'For every 500 positive responses, you get one idiot saying something horrible. I'm not bothered about them though.
'If this post makes only 100 women out of almost 100,000 check themselves then that's enough for me.
'I had one girl get in touch and tell me that, after seeing my picture on Facebook, her mum had left the house for the first time since her mastectomy. That's what this was all about for me.'  


As well as undergoing a six-hour operation to have both breasts removed in January, surgeons also removed Leeanne's ovaries in a bid to reduce the chance of the disease returning, as the rogue BRCA1 gene is linked to both breast and ovarian cancers. 
Las Vegas-based 'adult entertainment' scout Danny Frost and glamour model Gemma Jaxx have admitted to starting the controversial hashtag. 
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Danny said: 'OK once again just for all of our nay sayers and haters. When we started #HoldACokeWithYourBoobsChallenge, we did it as a joke... We never thought it would take off like it did. But it did.'  
'And then people started posting it was for charity and it was for breast cancer awareness. We had never plan on that nor thought of it. But since that's what people want to do it for, we said why not do something good with this. So we went with it,' he added.  
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation revealed that the trend isn't raising money for them, telling Esquire magazine that it has no connection with the campaign but would happily receive donations from the challenge should they start coming in. 


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