A group of women suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF) describe their experiences growing up with the fatal disease as they proudly model their surgical scars in a powerful new book that aims to create awareness for the disorder and ultimately end body shaming. 

Ian Pettigrew, a 46-year-old photographer from Ontario, Canada, who is also battling cystic fibrosis, photographed 77 adult women who suffer from the disorder, which damages the lungs and digestive system, for his book Salty Girls, a limited edition publication which spotlights ‘how beautiful those fighting CF truly are’.

And while the book is about raising awareness for CF as well as promoting positive female body image, Mr Pettigrew revealed to Daily Mail Online that four women featured in this book, and his first publication, Just Breathe, have died since being photographed, while four to five others are in intensive care right now fighting for their lives. 

For those with the inherited condition, a defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus in the lungs, pancreas and other organs, with symptoms including frequent lung infections, persistent coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, poor growth and slow weight gain.

Mr Pettigrew explained that one young woman named Erin Phillips, who posed for the book wearing a red lace bra and holding a beer, was a double-lung transplant recipient who caught an infection before she passed away on July 21 - just a few weeks away from her 31st birthday.  

'She was just unable to fight it, and her lungs eventually went into rejection,' he said of the heartbreaking news.

To accompany her picture in Salty Girls, the Phillips family wrote about Erin defying the limitations for CF and achieving whatever she put her mind to. 

'The scars she proudly wears in this book are evidence that she fought hard for and lived for her life motto, "Don't be delicate, be vast and brilliant," and she would challenge you to do the same!' they wrote.