Colostomy bags are having their time in the spotlight right now thanks to a couple of gorgeous models.
Bodybuilder Blake Beckford is the latest model to proudly show off his bag in new photos for Men's Fitness magazine.
The father was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2003 and that, combined with his medication, constant tiredness and lack of gym training, led him to give up his goal of becoming a fitness model.
In October 2013, Beckford underwent an operation in which doctors removed his colon thereby forcing him to rely on a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.
Although the hottie was told he would never be able to train at the level needed to become a model, Beckford did anyway and started going back to the gym in January.
"When you go through the surgery some say you grieve … odd I know," Beckford wrote on his website. "I didn’t grieve because I had a bag but I did after I was told I would be very unlikely to achieve the fitness goals I had always aspired to. Hearing this after having surgery to remove this awful disease thats held you back for all this time is incredibly hard to deal with."
And now? Well, just look at the photos below:
Seriously, look at how hot he is, colostomy bag and all:
Damn, son:
The 33-year-old Brit says he hopes the photos will raise awareness for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and show people with his condition that they can do anything with hard work and motivation.
"I am determined to show people and society that having a stoma doesn’t change who you are and it doesn’t mean you’re not normal," he wrote on his website. "It means you can achieve anything you want to do, you can be attractive and you can lead a normal life."
Beckford isn't the first, and we hope not the last, model to proudly show off his colostomy bag. Bethany Townsend , who is forced to wear two of them at all times thanks to surgery that removed part of her intestines, is attempting to jump start her modeling career after photos of the young woman in a bikini went viral.
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