A Western University student who was seriously burned in a frat house fire has received a revolutionary new treatment in a world first, thanks to burn experts in Hamilton, Ont.
The team at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) was the first in the world to use a new biological treatment to save the student’s face after she suffered severe burns last year, reads a news release.
On Dec. 2, 2025, a fire broke out at Western University frat house Pi Kappa Alpha, located in the area of Richmond and Cheapside streets, after rubbing alcohol was thrown onto a lit torch.
Five people were transported to hospital with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
Eighteen-year-old Kaitlin Jeffrey of Toronto was one of the students who suffered serious injuries after her face and hair caught fire. She was brought to London’s Victoria Hospital and later transferred to the burn unit at Hamilton Health Sciences.
She received a treatment that utilizes exosomes, and because of this HHS says she “healed faster, and with better results” than another student whose burns from the same fire were serious, but not as severe. The other student wasn’t a candidate for exosome treatment because their injuries did not require skin grafting.
The treatment works by utilizing exosomes, tiny particles released by cells that carry signals from one cell to another to help coordinate rapid healing and tissue repair and reduce inflammation. The particles are collected, typically from lab-grown cells, and then injected into the injured areas to accelerate healing.
HHS says the process is much faster than the current standard of skin grafting, which can leave scarring and a patch-like appearance.
“My vision for Kaitlin was to avoid skin graft surgery to her face and neck at any cost,” explained Dr. Marc Jeschke, vice president of research and innovation at HHS, burn surgeon and researcher, who also performed Jeffrey’s surgery.
“You can do the best graft on the planet, but you won’t return the skin to normal. And, for a young person, a skin graft to the face and neck can be absolutely devastating.”
After getting the green light from Jeffrey and her parents, Jeschke sent an urgent application to Health Canada to try the new therapy on compassionate grounds. Receiving no objection from Health Canada, Jeschke and his HHS team became the first in the world to perform an exosome treatment on a burn patient.
‘Helping me move forward’
Jeffrey underwent two treatments over the course of several days. The treatments used one trillion exosomes sourced from the United States.
“It’s honestly a miracle,” Jeffrey said. “Being injured in the fire has also had deep impact on my mental health, and it’s something I’m continuing to deal with. But having such good results, particularly to my face, is helping me move forward.”
Exosomes have been studied for years as part of burn research, but not yet in humans, HHS says. Clinical trials involving humans have used exosomes for other types of wound healing, “with promising results.”
Jeffrey and her family are grateful to Jeschke and the entire burn centre team, and hope with further research, the world-first treatment will become the new standard of care for burn patients in Canada and beyond.
“Like Dr. Jeschke, my family and I would love to see exosome therapy become the standard of care for patients like myself in Canada, so that when horrific things happen, it doesn’t change people’s lives,” she added.
