Former Model Bethany Townsend Bravely Posts Bikini Photos Online with Colostomy Bags

Bethany Townsend, 23, has never expected she would get such a positive feedback on her photos in which she is wearing bikini. In the images, she has bravely showed her colostomy bags.

Former Model suffers from Crohn's disease. According to the National Institutes of Health, Crohn's disease is a condition that leads to inflammation, irritation of any part of the digestive tract. Its symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea and rectal bleeding.

In an extreme situation like Townsend's, it gets important to remove the damaged part of the intestine and a colostomy bag is fitted to divert feces away from the damage. After a series of operations were unable to treat her symptoms, Townsend was fitted with the bags and it's been four years now.

Townsend has seen a few other women showing off their colostomy bags and wanted to do the same. Therefore, she sent her images to the Crohn's and Colitis UK Facebook group and the group later posted those images on their page.

Her photos have gone viral. Townsend told the photos have been seen by millions of people. The photos had 190,000 likes and over 10,000 comments on Facebook. "Finally after three and a half years, I decided that my colostomy bags shouldn't control my life. So when I went to Mexico with my husband in December last year I finally showed I wasn't ashamed", shared Townsend.

She has received such a phenomenal response from the public that she now says she had shed any insecurities she had about her condition. She now expects to help other people living with condition. Townsend wants other people should also shed any inhibitions they have about the condition and should not be ashamed of it.