The impact of tissue donation: Jennifer’s story

It was a normal weekday for Jennifer Teefy, a busy parent of four kids. Thinking ahead to school lunches, she threw some frozen potatoes into a deep fryer.

“In a moment, everything changed,” says Jennifer, who had been deep frying outside and stepped on an unstable deck board, causing the table she was cooking at to also shift. “I fell back, and my face, scalp, chest, right arm and torso all got hit by hot oil.”

Things moved quickly. Paramedics came to her home, and contacted ORNGE air ambulance. In just 22 minutes she was flown from her home near Lindsay, Ontario, to Sunnybrook’s Ross Tilley Burn Centre.

Over the course of three weeks, Jennifer had multiple surgeries to provide skin grafts to third degree burns on 20 per cent of her body.

“Without donor skin, Jennifer’s life would have been in serious danger from infection,” explains Dr. Stephanie Mason, interim medical director of the Ross Tilley Burn Centre. “Donated skin acts as a temporary covering for wounds caused by burns, while greatly decreasing pain and infection.”

After recovering for an additional two weeks at St. John’s Rehab, Jennifer was able to head home. After six months, she was back at her job in social work.

“Tissue donation has a profound impact on the lives of many Ontarians, like Jennifer. Every donor has the potential to save, and improve, up to 75 lives,” explains Emily Rason, who works with patients, families and care teams at Sunnybrook to arrange organ and tissue donation.

For the Ross Tilley Burn Centre, the generosity of skin donors helps the team save many lives and also achieve high-quality outcomes.

Jennifer is an example of this, and encourages people to sign up at the Trillium Gift of Life Network to become a donor, and offer hope and health to Ontarians.