A story of recovery and gratitude
It was a typical evening at home in November 2018 when everything changed for Jennifer Teefy. While deep-frying food on her back deck, she lost her footing on a loose board. In one split second, the fryer tipped forward, spilling scalding oil over her face, scalp, chest, right arm and torso.
“I knew right away I was in trouble,” Jennifer recalls. “I’m a social worker, so my crisis training kicked in. As soon as I got into the house, I jumped in the shower and told my husband to call 911. I could feel myself going into shock.”
Emergency responders arrived within minutes. She was taken first to Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay before an ORNGE air ambulance flew her to Sunnybrook’s Ross Tilley Burn Centre in Toronto.
“The EMS team who arrived at my door were phenomenal — they saved my life,” Jennifer says. “They were a veteran crew and knew exactly what to do. My body temperature was dropping fast, and they managed to get a port in right away.”
Doctors expected her to arrive intubated, but because of Jennifer’s strength and quick action — as well as the paramedics’ rapid response — she was in much better shape than anticipated. Still, the burns covered 20 per cent of her body, and she faced a long road ahead.
Over the next three weeks, the ICU team at Sunnybrook did everything they could to help Jennifer heal, including using donor skin on her face and scalp.
“They were able to save so much more of my scalp because of the skin donation,” she explains. “Without those grafts, the damage would have been far worse.”
That gift of tissue donation not only helped save her skin — it also became a powerful symbol of healing for her entire family.
“We talked about it a lot,” Jennifer says. “When my kids asked how I was healing, I told them, ‘Mommy’s getting better because someone chose to donate skin.’ That understanding helped them heal too. They saw that generosity and kindness were a huge part of my recovery.”
After she was discharged from the hospital, Jennifer spent another two weeks in rehabilitation, then continued outpatient therapy for a full year. This included months of wearing a facial pressure mask and specialized garments to minimize scarring and improve flexibility. She was also encouraged to maintain a daily yoga practice to help stretch and move her healing skin.
“I was in pretty good shape before the accident,” she laughs. “Now, yoga has become a much bigger part of my life than I ever expected.”
Jennifer has undergone several follow-up procedures since her accident, including surgery to repair hearing loss caused by the oil burn to her ear. But she eventually returned to her career in social work — now with a new layer of empathy for patients and families navigating medical trauma. She’s also found deep meaning in the generosity that made her recovery possible.
“I had no idea that a tissue bank was even a thing,” she admits. “But my healing has been incredible because my surgeons had access to donated skin. Especially when it came to my scalp. People might think that losing your hair isn’t a big deal, but for me, it’s part of who I am. The cadaver skin helped save enough of my scalp so that I can still wear my hair the way I always have. It may sound like a small thing, but it’s tremendously important — it’s a piece of normalcy that means everything to me.”
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