After covering health for 15 years, I’ve seen my fair share of blood, needles and surgeries. I now pride myself in being able to watch an artery being repaired without turning ghostly white and hitting the ground (trust me, I wasn’t always so stoic). But there is one area where I can barely stand to watch a power point presentation, let alone the real thing: burns. The pain and recovery process seem unbearable. That’s what made my afternoon with Dr. Marc Jeschke, Medical Director of Sunnybrook’s Ross Tilley Burn Centre, so incredibly eye opening.
Unassuming and friendly, Dr. Jeschke welcomed me into his office just outside the burn unit. One of my first questions was, how do you do this? “It’s difficult to see, especially young children with these injuries,” he said. “But I realized years ago, that if somebody doesn’t help them, they’ll die.” And so a need became a life calling. Dr. Jeschke has been caring for burn patients, including infants and young children, for more than two decades. But this award-winning, internationally renowned surgeon and scientist may still have the best trick up his sleeve: custom-made skin.
Right now, many burn patients face countless surgeries to graft skin from another part of the body, or even cadavers. But Dr. Jeschke discovered that stem cells, harvested from umbilical cord and amniotic membranes, can be used to grow new skin. The hope is to apply that immediately to burn patients, helping speed up recovery and reduce the number of surgeries needed. In short, if this approach works, it would literally change the face of burn care in the next four years.
Despite teetering on the cusp of a breakthrough like this, Dr. Jeschke’s manner as we talked was casual and matter of fact. I found it telling that our interview was the first opportunity he’s had to actually sit on the couch in his own office. Too busy to sit still, but too fulfilled to mind! His pager buzzed consistently throughout the hour we had together, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many lives he had changed over the years. So I asked him. His answer couldn’t be quantified with a number (fair enough). But interestingly, he told me how many burn patients have found true fulfillment after their injury. “We have had patients who get married, who sort their lives out, so there is not the stereotype of the population saying, you get burned, you are a monster. No. They are very dedicated, and have a positive attitude towards life. That makes me feel really good,” he said smiling.
So does the marked increase in survival rates. Doctors add the severity of the burn, say 60% of the body is affected, with the age of the patient. Not long ago, if that number reached 100, death was almost a certainty. Today, that number has been pushed up to 140. Advances in treatment and surgical techniques, like removing the burned skin within the first 48 hours, have helped countless patients defy death.
To really understand how much a severe burn stresses the body Dr. Jeschke compared it to running a marathon 24-hours a day for several weeks, pushing your metabolic rate into overdrive. That’s why having a dedicated burn team is so critical. Sunnybrook’s Ross Tilley Burn Centre is the only one in the province to offer the total package for burn care, meaning there is a burn operating room, intensive care unit, supportive staff, a skin bank and follow up clinics for care and reconstruction. “We’re like a big family,” said Dr. Jeschke. “Our group know each other well and we’re very specialized. It’s great.”
That said, Dr. Jeschke doesn’t want to see you. “Most burns happen out of moments of stupidity, if I can say that.” Workplace accidents, lighting bonfires, you name it, he has seen the most benign moments transform into the worst-case scenario countless times. This is when working smoke alarms, fire escape plans and common sense can offer simple antidotes to lifelong injuries.
As Dr. Jeschke’s pager buzzed for the fifth time, I knew our time had come to a close. I shook his hand and packed up my gear as he returned a few e-mails before heading into surgery. While I was no closer to handling that kind of procedure visually, I left knowing that behind every patient’s survival story was a great doctor (running their own marathon 24-hours a day.)
