Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

My wife Jilly and I are running the 2013 London Marathon together (well, she'll have to slow down to actually run it with me!) to raise money for Changing Faces.  Please do take a minute to read why we are hoping to raise money for this worthwhile charity.

Changing Faces is the charity for people and their families whose lives are affected by conditions, diseases, marks or scars that alter their appearance.

Jilly and I became aware of the work of Changing Faces after a boating accident.  Returning to Guernsey from the neighbouring island of Herm on Wednesday 17, September 1997 on a friend's new boat Jilly was seriously injured when there was a high speed collision with another boat going in the opposite direction whose helmsman did not know the Rules of the Sea.  

Jilly was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was struck in the face by the anchor of the other boat throwing her across the boat and instantly smashing her face and skull from her upper jaw to the top of her head, tearing the lining of her brain and bruising the brain itself.  Luckily for her she was struck directly on the nose which acted like an airbag to protect her brain.  Had the point of impact being an inch in any direction it would have been unlikely that she would have survived.

Jilly was airlifted to Southampton and painstakingly pieced together by the excellent staff there led by maxiliofacial surgeon Barrie Evans.  That first operation lasted 17 hours.  There have since been a further 15 or so operations (we lose track) and her next one is in June 2013.  Jilly's forehead is now a titaniam sheet and her skull and and eye sockets were rebuilt using pieces of her hip and are held together by over 130 screws and other pieces of titanium.  Three times she has had her face peeled off in order to give the surgeons access to do what they have had to do to put her together again.

They have done a truly fantastic job in making Jilly look like Jilly.  We gave them photographs of her so they knew what she had looked like beforehand, but Jilly does not look the same as she did before the accident.  People who meet her for the first time now might not notice the scars around her nose, neck, upper lip, eyes and cheek, or the scar that goes from ear to ear but Jilly sees them every day.

I was never more proud of Jilly than the day when she walked into a pub for the first time after the accident to see our friends.  Her face was extremely swollen and bruised, her head shaved and her face held on with staples under her scarf.  The pub was noisy and packed and she just took a big breath and walked on in.  The pub quietened down and people stared, as she knew they would.  

Not everyone is as strong as Jilly but she very nearly couldn't face that evening.  She was sorely tempted to hide away.  Many people who have been disfigured do just that.

Our wedding, four years later, could not take place until Jilly was happy with the way she looked.  Barrie Evans was the guest of honour.

Shortly after her accident a well meaning friend bought Jilly a book by James Partidge, the inspirational founder of Changing Faces, about coping with facial disfigurement.  

Years later, when James was looking to set up a Channel Island's branch of Changing Faces he asked Jilly whether she would like to be involved.  She did not hesitate.  Jilly has been the local branch chair since its foundation in 2005.

Over 1 million people in the UK have a disfigurement to their face, hands or bodies.  Changing Faces helps them to deal with their disfigurement positively by, amongst other things, giving them and their families practical and emotional advice on how to cope and how to deal with other people's reactions to their condition.   Changing Faces also provides training, support and advice to professionals in health and education and also aims to transform public attitudes towards people with disfiguring conditions.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to Changing Faces and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for Changing Faces.

So please dig deep and donate now.  Given how we (I!) have struggled through our training we will not be doing another marathon any time soon so you will be spared further demands from money for us (until we think up some other hairbrained idea for raising money) so you can be doubly generous this time around... pretty please?

Thanks for reading this and (hopefully) thank you for clicking on the "Donate" button.  We really appreciate your support.  It will make the shinsplints, blisters, dodgy knees and ankles earned during our training all worth while.

Russell & Jilly