“Not the most flattering photo of Emma, surely they can crop it a little better,” commented Xavier Coppock on a post where the athlete is shown finishing a race with a bloodstained one-piece swimsuit. It was at that precise moment that a long debate ensued.
Emma Pallant-Browne is a British athlete who competes in triathlon, duathlon, and aquathlon events. Among her latest achievements, she won a silver medal at the 2022 World Long Distance Triathlon Championships. In the prestigious Ironman 70.3 competition, she won 2 medals (silver in 2017 and bronze in 2022) and a gold medal at the European Championship in the same year.
In her latest multi-sport challenge, Emma finished fourth. The PTO Tour European Open in Ibiza was held just days after she won the Duathlon World Championship.
On the other hand, Xavier Coppock is another triathlete who decided to comment on a photo of Emma that had been published on the official profile of the competition that took place in Spain. Among the images, she is shown running with a red stain on her swimsuit due to her period.
Although we believe that the athlete’s comment was not made with ill intentions, his words caused a stir online. For her part, Emma was quick to respond. In the same forum, she tagged him and dedicated a few lines to him.
5 days later, the athlete uploaded the same photo to her profile. In the description, she sent an important message. “Celebrating the amazing women in sport and the equally amazing men who champion them. Humbled by the number of messages I’ve had from both men and women about the unglamorous reality of racing on your period,” she began.
In the post, she explained the factors that contributed to this situation. Her light pink outfit was chosen so as not to attract the sun’s rays, and she rolled over her bike, making the stain more visible. She squirted water at the hydration stations, but it failed to remove the stain.
“This is a women’s sport and the more barriers we can break, the better. After a long career, you end up with a photo like this, but the idea of editing it means there is something wrong with it. I share it because there’s really nothing wrong with it, it’s a natural thing,” she said.
“So if you have a photo like this, save it, cherish it, and remember how you performed on a tough day because one day you might just be able to help someone else with it,” she concluded in her powerful message.
The original post was deleted, but we still have Emma’s, which she posted on her profile. This athlete gave us a lot to talk about — she managed to turn a small comment into an empowering message regarding menstruation. It gave us pause and made us think about the natural things we should stop turning into taboos.
Preview photo credit em_pallant / Instagram, professionaltriathletesorg / Instagram
The Tragic Reason Why One Man Actually Turned Blue Forever
The world’s most famous blue man, Paul Karason, also dubbed Papa Smurf, was born as a fair-skinned, freckled boy with ginger hair. In the 2000s, he became an internet sensation and made many TV appearances, openly talking about his condition. Let’s find out together why Karason turned blue and how he became a cautionary tale.
Paul Karason had a skin condition that made his skin flake, as well as acid reflux and arthritis. Doing his own research in order to improve these ailments, he found out about a solution of silver in water, also known as colloidal silver.
Colloidal silver was widely used as an antibiotic back before penicillin was invented in the 1930s. It was banned in 1999 in over-the-counter medications after scientists found that it can severely damage internal organs.
The late Paul Karason and his wife, Joanne
Karason drank what he believed was a miracle cure for over 10 years. Moreover, he even began to apply a silver preparation directly to his skin; he claimed his acid reflux and arthritis just went away. “I had arthritis in my shoulders so bad I couldn’t pull a T-shirt off. And the next thing I knew, it was just gone,” he shared.
Due to the silver accumulation in his skin, he started to turn blue and suffered from a permanent and rare condition called argyria. Only when Karason met an old friend who asked him, “What have you done to yourself?” did he begin to realize he’d become blue.
Karason claimed his blue skin had many advantages — he never got sunburns or had to wear sunglasses. There were some side effects he did not appreciate, however, such as folks “being less than polite” to him. Moreover, Karason confessed he couldn’t get a job because of employers’ resistance to hiring “people that are blue or that are noticeably different.”
Sadly, Paul Karason passed away in 2013 when he was 62 years old due to heart complications.
Papa Smurf’s story serves as a valuable lesson about the importance of being careful when it comes to at-home remedies. While it’s natural to want to find easy solutions to health problems, it’s important to be aware that such remedies can sometimes pose serious risks. It’s always better to consult a doctor and follow their advice for a safe and effective treatment.
Preview photo credit Inside Edition / YouTube
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