Bride-to-be who shared pictures of her skin cancer scars online cruelly trolled by Facebook users who accused her of ‘making it up’
The comments were so upsetting that Gemma Cottam began avoiding social media altogether
WHEN a woman shared details of her battle with skin cancer online, vile internet users trolled her for ‘scamming' them.
Brave Gemma Cottam, 25, posted pictures of her stage three melanoma in hope to encourage women to stay off sunbeds and protect themselves with sun cream.
Gemma first found out she had melanoma after having a mole on the left side of her face removed, as doctors broke the tragic news that it was cancerous.
Following gruelling surgery, Gemma can no longer lift up her left arm, as her nerves were damaged during the cancer-removal surgery.
Courageous Gemma, who was forced to postpone her wedding to the love of her life Paul Welsh, 41, uploaded shocking pictures of her scars to raise awareness for skin cancer.
Even after Gemma shared snaps of her horseshoe scar, which spans from her ear to her chin, angry commenters inundated her with sick messages.
If accusing her of being a scammer wasn’t enough, some Facebook users made personal attacks on Gemma’s appearance.
The bride-to-be, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, remembered: "I thought it was really important to share pictures if my scar because it's quite shocking and I hoped it would really help raise awareness of melanoma.
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"But when I did I had people messaging me saying I was an attention seeking w**** and that my cancer wasn't real and that I was trying to scam people.
"They told me that I was ugly and that the scar made me look better it was sick – I had to come off my awareness page for a bit because the messages were just vile.”
The online comments began to affect Gemma so much that she started avoiding social media and no longer went on her Facebook page.
She revealed: "It completely devastated me to be honest, I'm here fighting for my life and people think it's OK to say stuff like that it's shocking.
"People just need to watch what they're saying to cancer survivors, we have enough to deal with and who are they to say that someone is faking it?"
Even though the engaged couple are taking each day as it comes, Gemma hopes that she’ll be able to use her experience to help others.
She’s currently planning to write a book, which will support other cancer survivors as well as raising awareness for the deadly disease.
Inspirational Gemma said: "I'm really trying to put a positive spin on everything that's happened to me and I've been toying with the idea of writing a book about my journey…
"In the future I really just want to do more to raise awareness of skin cancer, I want to inspire cancer sufferers to stay positive."