Terminal cancer sufferer hits out at Facebook for removing nipple photo she posted to warn others

A TERMINALLY ill woman uploaded a photo on Facebook she believed could be a lifesaver only for it to be banned by the social media giant.

A TERMINALLY ill woman has attacked Facebook for taking down a photo of her nipple that she uploaded to warn others about symptoms of breast cancer and “save lives”.

Rowena Kincaid, 40, posted an image on her Facebook page — which has more than 10,000 followers — showing a rash around her nipple and explained that it was a little known symptom of the disease.

A post after the photo was removed.

Most women are told to be aware for any lumps that they might find in their breasts but she said they also needed to be aware of rashes on their chest and nipples that become inverted.

After posting the photo the Cardiff, UK resident was told it had been removed because it violated the social networking site’s anti-nudity policy.

The ‘offending’ photo.

Writing about it on her Facebook page last week, she said: “[They don’t] see what the reason behind it is. It’s just automatic. [They] don’t see that the picture I posted earlier may actually save lives.”

The picture racked up 72,000 views in the first two hours of going online and the secondary stage-four sufferer said: “I’m obviously totally gutted, as it took a lot to share my picture with you, because I’m so body conscious and fretted about sharing it at all.”

Rowena has 11,000 followers on Facebook.

She was diagnosed with the disease in 2009 and made a BBC documentary called ‘Before I Kick the Bucket’ and updates followers about her battle using Facebook.

However, she was determined to put the photo up and uploaded an edited version of the image that placed a smiley face over the top of the nipple.

Rowena managed to outfox Facebook’s ban.

She wrote: “What you are looking at is a rash on the chest around an imaginary nipple [and] in my case it is definitely cancer.”

Comments from fans.

Despite years of gruelling treatment, the cancer returned in 2013 and Rowena was given six months to live. So far, she has defied doctors’ predictions.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Terminal cancer sufferer hits out at Facebook for removing nipple photo she posted to warn others