A furious mother is demanding answers
from Facebook as to why they took down photographs she posted on the
site of her son, who was born with a rare birth defect, and then later
banned her from the site altogether.
Grayson James Walker, from Memphis,
Tennessee, was born on February 15, 2012 with Anencephaly, a rare neural
tube birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain
and skull.
His parents
Heather and Patrick Walker knew 16 weeks into the pregnancy their son
would not live very long due to his birth defect.
'They of course gave us the option to
terminate,' said Heather. But they chose to carry their baby full term
and turned to God for strength.'My husband and I, we started prayer and we knew that God knew since the beginning of time that he had us for this,' she said.
The couple were fully prepared to have to say goodbye to him on the same day they welcomed him into the world.
So,
with the help of non-profit organization Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep,
they had a professional photographer to take photos of their newborn,
just the same way as they did with their other two children and what
most parents around the world do.
He only lived for eight hours but the Walkers wanted to capture his short life so his memory could live on forever.
Heather explained to Fox News that she uploaded the pictures on to her Facebook page so she could share them with family and friends.
In most of the pictures, baby Grayson is wearing a hat. But in some, he was not.
Heather
explained: 'Not long after, Facebook deleted them because of the
content. They allow people to post almost nude pictures of themselves,
profanity, and so many other things but I'm not allowed to share a
picture of God's beautiful creation.'
After repeatedly putting the removed picture on her profile, her account was temporarily disabled.
According
to Facebook's community standards page, there are nine types of content
that may be deemed offensive and removed: Violence and Threats,
Self-Harm, Bullying and Harassment, Hate Speech, Graphic Violence,
Nudity and Pornography, Identity and Privacy, Intellectual Property and
Phishing and Spam
Heather
said she has no idea which category the picture of her child without the
hat falls under but has now launched a protest - posting the picture
several times and getting her friends and family to contact Facebook.
Patrick Walker said of his son: 'You
know, my son lived almost eight hours, and he's already done in eight
hours what I could never do in a hundred lifetimes, and that's awesome.'
As of today, Heather's Facebook page is active again and the picture of Grayson which was deemed 'graphic' has not been removed.
Facebook have yet to provide a statement.
Source daily mail
I can't wait to hear what Facebook has to say about this.
ReplyDeleteGod bless the parents for choosing life. Facebook is a sham.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. I haven't seen the photos, so it's hard to imagine part of his skull and brain missing. Poor little guy. I'm glad he's in the Lord's loving arms. What did the father mean when he said of his son: 'You know, my son lived almost eight hours, and he's already done in eight hours what I could never do in a hundred lifetimes, and that's awesome.' What were they hoping to accomplish by posting his image without the hat? Obviously, the reason can't be that they took on FB and won. The child's life was more valuable than that. God bless, Tina http://abooksandmore.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this story!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to see what these parents have experienced. It is so sad that their child was not able to live for long. I wonder why Facebook banned the picture. I have not seen it.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to see what these parents have experienced. It is so sad that their child was not able to live for long. I wonder why Facebook banned the picture. I have not seen it.
ReplyDeleteZuckerberg starts to suck!
ReplyDeleteSounds like Facebook has an apology to make.
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Nice blog! Very informative!
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@ Christina i read that many times to really understand what the father meant, but i couldn't figure it out..
ReplyDeleteMaybe facebook thinks that the picture didn't need such Exposure.. And i was thinking why did the mother carry him for nine months knowing fully well that he has only eight hours to live? Do you all think that is a reasonable decision?
I don't think Facebook had any right to remove the picture of her precious little boy or block her at all!!! Who are they to judge? And believe me, there are other pictures on FB that get a lot more traffic yet remain online for everyone to see. I have no idea why anyone would do that but it saddens me to know that a poor mama can't share a photo of her and her baby boy online. God bless her and her husband and precious boy!
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why Facebook ban her. ...cant wait to see their answer
ReplyDeletewhy Facebook ban her. ...cant wait to see their answer
ReplyDeleteI knew there was a reason I hated FB. That's just unreal.
ReplyDeleteFacebook seriously needs to hire some new people or make some new rules or something.
ReplyDeleteHi, this post is so sad :(
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Oh wow... just, wow. I am amazed at the strength and faith of this couple, and I am horrified that Facebook would be so insensitive. It really makes you think. Thanks so much for sharing this.
ReplyDelete@May to answer your question about why the mother choose to bring her son into the world knowing what the outcome would be; to put it simply...faith. She probably thought that through prayer & God's will there might have been an inkling of a chance that their son would beat the odds. Smh@Facebook. I too can't wait to see what they have to say.
ReplyDeleteWhat a horrible thing to do! I would be so upset!!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePeople need to understand that Facebook is a huge social networking website that gets millions upon millions of photo traffic every day. The picture appeared to be a photo of a disabled baby; and believe it or not, there are accounts that post that stuff as a sick joke. The moderators have to go through hundreds upon hundreds of reported and posted photos every day. If it is a photo that may be offensive or TRIGGERING to other people (other people with passed children may not want to see it) they take I down. They don't we the situation, didn't know she was the mother. They saw a photo of a baby with its brain exposed. Taken out of the circumstances, it can be considered offensive and morbid. That's why they took it down.
ReplyDelete