Oh Tabitha.jpg

Tabitha Renea West's main image from her GoFundMe campaign.

(GoFundMe)

A Fulton woman's plea to the Internet to help her turn her life around is getting a lot of attention on social media.

Tabitha Renea West created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a tattoo removal. The tattoo reads "420", a common reference to marijuana, and is emblazoned across her forehead.

West described her predicament in a post on the GoFundMe page. In her exact words:

West, who set a fundraising goal of $800 when she launched the campaign on Wednesday, has already succeeded in getting $920 in donations. The campaign has more than 55,000 shares on social media.

Not everyone is happy about her taking advantage of GoFundMe for the tattoo removal however. The Albany Times Union reported that her own brother left a comment on the page telling her she is abusing the site.

"Tabitha it's ur (sic) brother David that's not what this sight (sic) is for it's for people in need," David wrote. He also discouraged people from donating, claiming West has a "mental disability" and doesn't "know any better."

Others criticized her for drawing attention away from people using the site for medical help and emergency aid. In a follow-up post on the site, she thanked her supporters, then wrote, "people that disliked my fundraiser you can kiss my ass sorry. You just hating because there are people whom care about people like me."

GoFundMe is often used to help people with serious medical conditions, communities in crisis or grieving families, like the Van Buren family who lost a 2-year-old girl in a fire last May. But some people use it for other things, like creative projects, honeymoon funding and event planning.

Update: A GoFundMe user named Caitlin Augusta offered to pay for the entire procedure in a comment on the fundraising page. West confirmed this in a comment on her own Facebook page as well. She has not publicly stated what she will do with the remaining money.