A mother has been left close to tears after a stranger made cruel comments about her two-year-old son during a trip to the supermarket.
Mum Dallas Fowler, who lives in the US, had been shopping with her son Jameus, who has two stomas. The stomas lead from his colon, as it didn't finish forming before he was born. He was also born with a disease called Hirschsprung's disease – a condition that causes faeces to become stuck in the bowels.
She explains in her post, which has now had over 23,000 shares, 13,000 comments and 56,000 likes, that as she reached to pick her son up from the shopping trolley, his two stoma bags became exposed. 'Typically, I have a onesie underneath his shirt but tonight I just got him dressed quickly to run to the store. The onesie helps to keep his bags in one place and makes it harder for him to tug and pull them off.'
It was then that 'an older woman' in the queue noticed her son's stomas and 'shrieked a little', before saying to Dallas: 'why in the world would you let someone do that to him?'
The mum, shocked and speechless by what she'd heard, explained her son's condition, leaving out that he also suffers from Hirschsprung's disease, to which the woman replied: 'well I am sorry but I just think that is so 'repulsing', can you please keep his shirt down?'. Dallas continues: 'At this point I just wanted to shake this woman and scream "what is wrong with you?!" But instead, I told her to have a good night and went to another line.'
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154718682172678&set=a.10150578096107678.481296.824782677&type=3&theater
Understandly upset by the events, Dallas later took to Facebook to share her and son Jameus' story.
She wrote: 'So now I'm sharing this picture, because there is nothing repulsing about my son. Stomas and ostomies seem to be a taboo, when in reality, over 500,000 Americans have one. My son's disease may be rare but his stomas are not.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154316563782678&set=a.10150097168842678.315759.824782677&type=3&theater
'Was this the first choice of a life I would have chosen for my son? Absolutely not. But this was his only shot at life. When he was 2 weeks old, his colon ruptured. It left him with a life threatening infection that nearly killed him.
Image: gofundme.com/babyjameus
'His stoma saved his life. There is a very good chance he will have these for the rest of his life and if he does, it will be my job to teach him a positive body image. (As its all parents jobs to do that). It will be my job to teach him to love himself, and his bags.'
Image: gofundme.com/babyjameus
Dallas has set up a Go Fund Me page for her son, where she shares pictures of his journey through treatments and hospital stays. She's so far raised $4,329 of her $10k goal, of which says: 'Thanks everyone so much for all your love & support! It truly means the world to both Jameus & I'
