Why this lung cancer sufferer's photo went viral
When 30-year-old personal trainer Vicky Veness from Cheltenham was diagnosed with lung cancer recently, she was shocked. She looked healthy on the outside, so how could she possibly be suffering from such a life-threatening illness?
But it's that exact assumption - that because someone might look healthy must mean they really are - which led Vicky to post a photograph of herself looking fit and well on social media.
The photo has since been liked more than 2,700 times and has been shared more than 700 times, because in this photo - believe it or not - Vicky has stage 4 cancer.
Just a warning that this post may be upsetting to read. This photo was taken a few hours before I was diagnosed with...
Posted by Vicky Veness on Saturday, August 12, 2017
"This photo was taken a few hours before I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer," Vicky wrote on the Facebook post. "I'm 30 years old, a personal trainer, runner, non smoker and healthy eater.
"When you have cancer you won't necessarily look ill on the outside. The symptoms might be much more subtle and only show themselves occasionally," she wrote.
Vicky went on to explain in the post that the symptoms she'd suffered had been "brushed off" on numerous occasions by GPs who thought it was nothing more than asthma.
"The moral of the story is this, if you feel unwell for whatever reason, it doesn't matter how silly you might think it might be, see your doctor, question everything and keep going back until you get the answers you need."
Posted by Vicky Veness on Sunday, June 4, 2017
The days following her diagnosis is described by Vicky in the post as having been "the most emotionally and physically challenging week of my life," but showing her strength and resilience she added: "now it's time to fight this!"
And it's a very valid point that she makes with her photo; a disease like cancer doesn't necessarily manifest itself in the way you would imagine. But that doesn't mean it's not there.
So let's make sure we're paying attention to the way our bodies feel - no matter how healthy we look on the outside - because unless we do, we might miss something important going on inside.
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