Health advocate Dr Bea has issued a strong warning against the exploitation of serious illnesses on social media, urging empathy for real cancer victims.

In a recent Instagram video, she shared her firsthand experiences with cancer patients, recalling strong men “shrinking into shadows” and families exhausting every resource only to bury loved ones. She described hope entering rooms “only to be shattered,” highlighting the emotional and financial toll of the disease.

“This is why this kind of public performance feels so insulting, so obscene, so spiritually rotten,” she said. “Maybe there was fear, maybe questions. Fine. But what exactly was the goal? Were you trying to bend public sympathy because you have more than 1 million followers?”

Dr Bea specifically addressed claims by the Blessing CEO, who publicly said she had cancer and posted about it online while people sent her money. She called this “a desecration of real suffering,” warning against borrowing or dramatising the pain of real victims for attention or financial gain.

Framing cancer as memory and grief, Dr Bea said: “It is women who never grew old, children watching their parents fade, unfinished dreams, empty beds, scarred chests, and funerals that came too soon.”

She also held audiences accountable. “A person who is known for distortion does not become powerful by accident. They are built by an audience fed by followers, strengthened by people who keep rewarding shamelessness with attention,” she said.

Labelling the trend a “Nigerian social media tragedy,” Dr Bea warned that sensationalism erodes empathy and truth online. She concluded: “I will not be mocked. From today on, if you give me nonsense on social media, I will give you nonsense back, because I am too intelligent to watch this happen.”