Jen knows how vital tissue donation can be. As a multi-tissue recovery coordinator, Jen has spent 13 years carefully recovering skin, eyes, bones, and heart valves from tissue donors—first in the UK, and today with Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) in Ontario.
But in February 2024, that knowledge became deeply personal.
Jen’s partner Marya, a vibrant elementary school teacher, was at home preparing a cup of instant noodles. An everyday activity quickly turned into a 2-year journey when an accidental spill caused boiling water, oil, and sticky noodles to cling to Marya’s skin, causing severe burns across her abdomen and thigh.
Jen out of town when it happened, but when she arrived home and saw Marya the next day, she was horrified. In her job, Jen has seen countless injuries—but this was the worst burn she’d ever seen.
From that moment, everything changed. What followed was a terrifying and frustrating journey that included hospital visits, ineffective pain management, and delayed treatment. After a few weeks of hoping the burn would heal on its own, Marya was in excruciating pain and Jen knew things had progressed too far.
Jen immediately took Marya back to her doctor where the extent of the infection was discovered. Marya was immediately admitted to Hamilton General Hospital’s burn unit, where surgeons acted quickly to remove a significant amount of damaged tissue. To stabilize the wound, Marya received donor skin grafts.
“That skin – something I might have recovered myself or that one of my TGLN colleagues could have – was saving her life.”
The donated skin was meshed, stretched and applied over Marya’s wound. A suction device helped drain fluids, and Jen watched in awe as her partner began to heal.
“It was phenomenal to see,” she says. “It gave Marya’s body the time it needed to get strong enough for her own skin grafts.”
After ten days, surgeons removed the donor tissue and performed an autograft using strips of skin from Marya’s own leg. The entire ordeal involved three weeks in the hospital, five more weeks of daily wound care, and near-constant physical and emotional exhaustion.
“She’d say, ‘my legs are ruined now.’ And I’d say, ‘you’re still beautiful.’”
Marya’s recovery wasn’t without setbacks. She developed a staph infection and continued to experience pain and fatigue. Today, while Marya is still experiencing some sensitivity, she’s doing much better. She wears a compression garment and is learning to tolerate the scars. She went back to teaching and recently wore a swimsuit for the first time since the accident. Marya is regaining her confidence, and—more importantly—her life.
“Marya became a registered donor because of this. She says ‘someone who lost their life saved mine.’ It’s changed her forever.”
Jen reflects often on how close they came to losing control of the situation, and how thankful they are that someone, somewhere, said yes to donation. “We’re so grateful to the person who donated that skin and the family who supported their loved one’s decision to become a donor. I don’t know what would have happened without it, and I honestly don’t want to think about it. That’s why it’s so important to talk about donation. It saves lives. It saved Marya.”
For Jen, who has long understood the impact of tissue donation, the experience has deepened her conviction. “This changed everything for both of us,” she says. “People don’t realize how common these injuries are. I saw so many patients in the burn unit who would have needed donor skin to heal. You never know who that donor is going to help.”
What once felt like a clinical role has become something far more personal.
“Tissue donation is not just a gift of healing. It’s a gift of hope, of survival, of second chances.”