A photograph of a father holding his ill son in the shower while trying to comfort him has struck a chord with parents and others across the world. Photographer Heather Whitten had shared the picture of her husband Thomas hugging their little son Fox on social media. The couple live with their kids – twins Fox and Persephone, Lillian, and Leena – in Southern Arizona, in the United States.
The intimate photo which was reportedly clicked a few years ago evoked a massive emotional response from the online community in spite of being removed by Facebook more than once for violating its censorship rules. Heather reveals that the pictures dates back to November 2014 after Fox, who was just a year old at that time, had an attack of vomiting and diarrhoea.
She wrote the following words about her experience in a Facebook post as she shared the same photo on her timeline again.
This was November of 2014, Fox would be hospitalized that night for salmonella poisoning [that we never figured out how he was exposed to].
Thomas had spent hours in the shower with him, trying to keep his fever down and letting the vomit and diarrhea rinse off of them both as it came.
It was a powerful moment for us as parents. Our intuition was starting to fire off that this was much more serious than just a virus but we've had much more experience with over reacting than not so we were trying to hold off.
As I sat in the shower with the two of them I was just overwhelmed with the scene in front of me. This man. This husband and partner and father. He was so patient and so loving and so strong with our tiny son in his lap. His whispers of reassurance to Fox, that he would be ok and that Thomas would take care of him were so steady and so honest.
Fox had always been more "my twin". He clung to me more than Persephone did in that first year and would always choose me over Thomas for comfort. But, in this moment, he needed and wanted Thomas.
I stepped out and grabbed my camera and came back to snap a few images of it and, of course shared them. I was taken aback by how many people missed the story or didn't even look past the nudity to find the story. They were just hung up on them both being nude and being in the shower. I had crossed a line. It was too intimate. It shouldn't be shared publicly.
But, I disagree.
My family may be different than yours. But, that doesn't make your way right or my way wrong. You may never take images of your family like I do... you may never share images of your family like I do. But, that doesn't give you the right to silence my voice. To take away my right to share our experiences in an uncensored way.
There is nothing sexual or exploitative about this image. There aren't even any "private parts" showing.
I wish I could express this all in a better way. I wish I were better spoken and not as rambling. But, this is important to me. And, I hope that one day there will be a platform that not only allows this kind of freedom for families and artists like my own... but, welcomes them without fear."
