Channel 5, 28 June 2010
A recent documentary on Channel 5 which followed the work of two of our consultants on a charity mission in Vietnam.
The programme, 'Seven New Faces in Seven Days' filmed Mr Niall Kirkpatrick and Mr Simon Eccles and their surgical team on a seven day journey through Vietnam, treating as many adults and children as possible who have no access to specialist medical care.
Eccles and Kirkpatrick are two of the world’s leading experts on facial reconstruction surgery and are also members of Facing the World, a UK charity for children with facial deformities.
One of the children they meet is 14-year-old girl Khanh Ngan, who was born with a congenital vascular malformation behind her right eye which was also growing into her brain, resulting in severe headaches and a bleak outlook in terms of her life expectancy.
Eccles and Kirkpatrick, along with Bupa Cromwell Hospital consultants Mr Naresh Joshi and Mr David Peterson, operate on Khanh Ngan at Bupa Cromwell Hospital, with the help of anaesthetist Dr Bernard Norman, and successfully remove the tumour. The results are dramatic and the touching and positive reaction of Khanh Ngan and her family show how life- changing this surgery is. "This was our family's last hope," her mother says. "Our family is so grateful now she has been given a chance to survive." "I feel wonderful," exclaims Khanh Ngan.
Extraordinary People is the flagship documentary series for Channel 5. Facing the World is a UK charity that offers facial reconstruction surgery to children with severe facial disfigurement who are unable to receive the surgery they need in their own countries. It has worked with Bupa Cromwell Hospital (BCH) for the last six years. Find out more about the charity Facing the World.
