Treacher Collins Syndrome in the media

Thought I might as well talk about TCS in the media as TV especially has raised awareness of TCS through various programmes.

I might as well start with the man himself Jono Lancaster who has been in several different programmes, interviews and magazine articles.I am not going to repeat his story in its whole but the basics are that he was given up for adoption just 36 hours after being born because his parents couldn't or wouldn't cope with his condition. He was adopted but has had to deal with bullies up to this very day.

The first documentary he was involved in is called Love Me Love My Face, this is a documentary about his life and his quest to find his birth parents. And the second one he is featured in is called What if my baby is born like me, this talks about the decisions that he and his girlfriend Laura will have to make in terms of whether or not they should have a child and what options are available to them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w4gkv-love me love my face
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010n37y-so what if my baby is born like me

Andy Tedder featured in an episode of the channel 4 series beauty and the beast-ugly face of prejudice. In this series people with facial disfigurements are brought together with people obsessed with their looks. Beauty queen Elicia is shocked by his looks and when she finds out he has not been in a relationship she asks him if he would ever consider a prostitute...this is made even more awkward by the fact that Andy is a firm believer in Christianity. But in the end I think the experience actually helps her and she may in fact spend a bit less time focusing on her looks.

Here is the link, as far as I'm aware you can still watch it:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/beauty-the-beast-ugly-face-of-prejudice/episode-guide/series-1/episode-3

Another documentry is born without a face which is the story of Juliana Wetmore who was born with a very severe form of TCS. It follows her and her parents and talks about the various surgeries she has had to undergo.

http://www.julianawetmore.net/story.php-her story on the website her parents and her nurse post updates on. (note of warning the pictures are pretty shocking if you haven't see her before)

TCS was also featured on:

Nip tuck in the episode "Blue Mondae" in which one of the plastic surgeons comes across a guy with TCS working in a coffee shop and for his own selfish reasons he offers to "fix" him for free, the surgery doesn't miraculously fix him and he then decides that it was a mistake and doesn't want to go through the pain and embarrassment of further treatment not the most uplifting piece of TV.

Also Greys Anatomy in "Start me up" in which their patient Sarah had TCS (although in my opinion not proper TCS as she was only missing cheekbones) she wanted surgery in order to be able to play sports without fear of getting injured through her lack of cheekbones.