Ambassadors

I think it’s marvellous that Alan was a founding Patron of the wonderful surgical research charity Saving Faces and I’m delighted to support this crowd funding campaign to fund the brand new Alan Rickman Professorship of Facial Surgery.

Alan gave so much joy to so many people who saw him either in the flesh on stage or on film so I love the idea that he and his voice will always live on associated with improving and saving the lives of thousands of patients worldwide because of the research done by his Professor. Please help us make this Professorship come to life by donating and spreading the word honouring Alan’s name and saving lives. I’m just imagining how frightened patients will be put at ease when they see the Alan Rickman Professor. I hope that the hospital where the Professor works will have a shrine to Alan which all patients can visit and perhaps the surgeon has to have a wizard hat and wand on the desk when they see patients.

In a world that’s not right in the head, I know you have so many charities to choose from but I have a personal interest in this one. Alan Rickman was the Founding Patron of Saving Faces. I was lucky enough to have Alan in my life for thirty-five years. His acting made me faint standing up but outside of that he was my brother, father, mentor, saviour and director. The only reason I became a comedian was to make him laugh and when he did it was as good as winning an Oscar. If this is his last request to support Saving Faces, I’m going out all guns blazing to support it.

Shortly before he died, Alan launched Saving Faces’ National Research Centre, he says, “I believe Saving Faces next project is to appoint an outstanding surgical Professor. Let me help you achieve this”. He left the charity “seed” money in his will, which will be used to start funding this campaign and rise to his challenge. The campaign starts in September. It aims to reach one million people and encourage them to donate at least £5 creating a £5 million endowment. This would permanently fund an outstanding Facial Surgeon who will do research on treating facial diseases and injuries. This would keep Alan’s name and voice alive forever and associate him with life-changing research. Please help not only by donating but by spreading this message and encouraging all your friends and followers to spread the word. For more information about the campaign and how to donate please visit the campaign website.

Thank you, thank you. I know Alan would have wanted this.

I first met Alan Rickman in 1986, when I auditioned for Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Royal Shakespeare Company. We were friends for the next 30 years, and he was the most loving, generous and brilliant friend. It was typical of him to use his wealth and fame to further other people, not himself. Since he died, I have been searching for a way to thank him for being in my life. 

He was the founding Patron of Saving Faces. This Professorship in his name, at the Saving Faces Research Centre, gives us, his friends and fans, the opportunity to thank him and create a legacy honouring him in a way he would have approved and loved. After all creating a surgical fellowship was actually his idea. Please help us by donating and asking your friends and contacts to do the same.

Alan was not only an exceptional actor in front of the camera but was also a lot of fun when the cameras stopped rolling. Everyone loved working with Alan –  his quick wit often had us roaring with laughter and I have great memories working with Alan on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and An Awfully Big Adventure.
 
Like Alan I have followed Saving Faces work for many years and I’m thrilled to support them in this fantastic campaign to create the Alan Rickman Professorship of Facial Surgery. I know the surgeon who holds this prestigious post will be proud to carry Alan’s name and they will transform the world for patients affected by disorders affecting most socially important part of our bodies. Please help us by donating and asking your friends and contacts to do the same.

As a doctor I have been fortunate to live my life not only treating patients but also conducting research with them to improve our knowledge and treatments. The advances that have been made in the treatment of all medical conditions, thanks to the many doctors and patients carrying out this clinical and observational research, are nothing short of miraculous. My second passion has been passing this knowledge on to students, in person and with books and papers. I have worked with Saving Faces on several occasions either helping with research or speaking at their student conferences about the benefits for patients if every Facial Surgeon took part in clinical or epidemiological research.

The last and most memorable of these was when Alan Rickman and I, together with others, launched Saving Faces National Facial, Oral and Oculoplastic Research Centre. I spent a wonderful half hour before the conference sitting and talking to Alan and the memory of this encounter with such a wonderful man still lingers on. That’s why I think it’s a brilliant idea to name this much-needed Professorship after Alan Rickman so that his inimitable voice lives on forever associated with saving thousands of patients lives.
 
Please help me and take pride yourself in donating a small amount and getting all your friends and family to do the same to make this professorship happen.

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Alan Rickman was an Extra Ordinary human being. We both joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1978, a rock’n’roll, punk company and where I found my tribe. Alan had a very naughty sense of humour, self-deprecating, wry but highly perceptive. He was a kind of Colossus, really. We will never see his like again. I miss him.

I know Alan donated to and supported the wonderful charity, Saving Faces, since its inception.  I am delighted to support this campaign which will ensure his name will forever be associated with the saving and improvement of the lives of numerous patients worldwide.  Please support this incredibly valuable campaign by donating and spreading the word!

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I am proud to support Saving Faces in this project to fund a professor who will determine best treatment practice for all facial and mouth diseases.

It may surprise everyone that this isn’t already known. I deal in Big Data and that is what is needed and what this professor will deliver doing nationwide and maybe even international research with thousands of patients.

Like most families, when one of our family had a serious life-threatening disease that needed surgery, we thought that we needed to find the most skilful surgeon. Fortunately, before treatment began, we found out that there were many ways of treating the problem, all of them relatively successful, but they had never been compared to see which one was best of all. So what was really needed was to find a surgeon who knew which operation was best for the patient. Even the most skilful surgeon will not achieve as good a result as a less skilful surgeon if they do not choose the best treatment for that particular patient.

I was amazed to find out that Alan Rickman understood this and supported this research and I’m delighted that the professorship will be named after him as the Alan Rickman Professor of head and neck cancer, facial injury and disfigurement.

Please help me deliver this project by donating as generously as you can but even more importantly spread the message amongst your friends and family so that they do the same. We can all be proud of the thousands of lives and faces that we will save each year when this professor becomes a reality.

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As an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon managing patients with severe facial injuries due to road traffic accidents or interpersonal violence and young adults with facial deformities, I have seen the devastating effects that these can have, not only on the individual but also on those closest to them – their family and friends. When someone sustains an injury to their face it is not only the trauma of the incident and hours of surgery with which they have to cope but also sometimes a permanent change to their facial appearance.

Having spent many happy hours with my children watching Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter films and enjoying his performances in Love Actually and Eye in the Sky, it is exciting to have an opportunity to be an ambassador for this campaign to establish a Professorship in his name. The post holder will lead much needed research into conditions such as head and neck cancer as well as those mentioned above, all sadly underfunded at the moment.

Saving Faces and its National Facial, Oral and Oculoplastic Research Centre in association with the Royal College of Surgeons of England, has already established a reputation for research, for example collecting outcome data following jaw surgery and in prevention, with its school’s campaign to raise awareness of the danger of binge drinking in young people. The Alan Rickman Professor will take this a huge step further and I would encourage you to support this wonderful campaign.

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Being a practising dentist I am grateful every day for our association with Saving Faces. Over the years a number of patients have presented to us with lesions, ulcers and various deformities associated with the face and mouth. How lucky to have Saving Faces at the end of a call or email.

Our patients have been treated by Saving Faces with care and compassion getting the best outcomes possible. I remember as if it were yesterday the passing of Alan Rickman. Such a fine actor with such a memorable voice. He was one of those actors one always remembered. Knowing Alan was a great supporter of Saving Faces, to have his name honoured by naming the Professorship after him is a fitting tribute indeed. This is an amazing project and it is a privilege to be associated with it.