Maggie and John Lowe decided that to celebrate her 65th birthday they were going to do something different and raise money for Saving Faces. They completed a twenty one day trekking adventure which took them to three distinctly different regions of Tibet. Setting out from Kathmandu in Nepal and flying over the Himalayas to Lhasa in Tibet. They visited Lake Namtso, a fascinating pilgrimage site in central Tibet, then explored the mountains near Shigatse, where many remote monasteries and nunneries are hidden away. Finally, they trekked towards Mt Everest and camped at the Dza Rongphu Monastery.
A Woodford Green resident, Lalinder Bansal, and her family raised more than £11,000 for Saving Faces. Mrs Bansal underwent complicated reconstructive surgery at the end of last year as a result of being diagnosed with tongue cancer. The two surgeons who operated on Mrs Bansal accepted the donation on behalf of Saving Faces. Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon, Leo Cheng, commented that “the support of their families is one of the most important things for people diagnosed with this kind of cancer; it helps them to stay positive and speeds their recovery”. Iain Hutchison, the founder of Saving Faces and the other Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon, said that “the research now being conducted by Saving Faces will in future direct the way surgeons perform surgery on patients”. He added that “the funds raised by the Bansal family will enable our researchers to recruit more patients to our clinical trials and will enable us to go to more schools to tell teenagers what binge drinking and smoking will do to them”. Mrs. Bansal’s husband, Nasib, thanked the surgeons and indicated that they planned more fundraising activities in aid of Saving Faces. 
