UK man’s Facebook account suspended for sharing dead wife’s cancer photos

London, Dec 26 (IANS) The Facebook account of a Briton was suspended after he shared his late wife’s photograph on his account to raise awareness about cervical cancer. The social media giant restored the account later.

Elliott Lowe, 42, posted two pictures of his late wife Donna who was battling with cervical cancer on his Facebook on December 22 and warned people about the importance of smear tests, Dailymail reported late on Monday.

A smear test or cervical screening test is a simple procedure where a doctor or nurse takes a sample of cells from the cervix to be examined for early changes on the cells.

In a series of Facebook posts, the man explained that his wife did not want to go for her last smear test and kept postponing it. He urged women to never make such a mistake.

Lowe had posted two pictures – one image showed his wife when she was healthy while another showed how she was affected by the disease and was in a hospital bed with her mouth open and bones protruding from her chest.

The 32-year-old woman lost her fight to cancer and died in August 2017. She had undergone daily radiotherapy and a chemotherapy session for six weeks.

Elliott said after he uploaded the posts, his account was suspended ‘due to unusual activities on it as a security procedure’ presumably because of the number of interactions on the post triggering safety measures.

“I have been asked to supply a photo of me to confirm my identity, which I have done. I am unable to contact them in any format to get my account reactivated,” The Mirror quoted Lowe as saying.

“I am extremely disappointed with the way Facebook has handled this situation and the lack of communication. I can’t understand why I pose a problem or risk. I dread to think what people are thinking now my account is no longer active and my post missing,” he added.

He said that the ultimate aim of his post was to raise awareness of the devastating effects of cancer to the Facebook community and he expected a few hundred shares.

Later, Lowe apologised for posting the images that were disturbing.