Warning: Some of the pictures in the photo gallery show graphic injuries and surgical procedures
Burn Reconstruction
This is a true hero. Former Phoenix Police Officer Jason Schechterle who was stopped at a stop light riding solo in his Crown Victoria Police Cruiser when a cab , whose driver was having a seizure, struck him from behind traveling an estimated 115 MPH. The gas tank in his police car exploded trapping him unconscious in the car. Fortunately there just happened to be a fire truck in the same intersection as officer Schechterle. They put the fire out and were able to extricate him fom the car. The photographs show him from the time he left the burn unit through his 52nd operation to reconstruct 4th (into bone) degree burns of the head, face and hands. He is nationally famous giving testimony to succesfully change the gas tanks in Ford Crown Victorias to prevent what happened to him from happening to others. He ran with the olympic torch, and has been featured on numerous national and local television shows and puts audiences into a state of awe with his inpsirational speeches (click here to view videos). He briefly returned to work as a homicide detective but had to retire from the police force because of difficulty being able to meet the score and time requirements to carry a gun. He is now CEO of Arizona Quality Transport Services 602-371-1000, an avid golfer and one of the most kind and generous people you will ever meet..
1. Jason giving a motivational speech with his hero former Alabama Football Coach Bear Bryant in the background. 2. Jason and Suzie Schechterle at a black tie fundraiser with Dr. Leighton. 3. Jason and Dr. Leighton at the McGroder "65" golf tournament (3rd place). 4. Jason speaking with burn patients Stephanie and Christian Nielson. 5. With Mark Curtis of Channel 12 news, Dr. Leighton, and Phoenix Police Officer Bryan Chapman. 6. Jason running with the Olympic Torch. 7. "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words." |
This very stoic young man, Greg Parker, was severely burned about the face and upper extremities when the motorcycle he was riding struck an ATC and his gas tank exploded in his face. Using advanced soft tissue expansion, microvascular surgery, cartilage and cranial bone grafting techniques and 47 operations his entire face has been reconstructed and he is back working on missle guidance systems and counsels prospective reconstructive burn patients referred to Dr. Leighton.
1. Greg with his incredible wife Julie. 2. Greg with middle eastern 10 year old burn victim Nidal, who traveled half way around the world alone to undergo multiple stage reconstruction of his face, chest, arm and hand by Dr. Leighton's team at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea. 3. Greg with Nidal and Mary Ann Wentzel, Dr. Leighton's office manager. 4. Greg with Jason Schechterle, Dr. Leighton's guests at the 2009 Foundation for Burns and Trauma annual Festival of the Trees fundraiser. 5. (LtoR) Suzie and Jason Schechterle, Julie and Greg Parker, Phoenix Police Officer Bryan and Dawn Chapman at the Sustainable Outreach Solutions spring black tie fundraiser.
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A little girl from Bolivia severely burned when a kerosene lamp in the hut she lived in was accidentally knocked over igniting the hut. A woman from Phoenix on a mission in Bolivia found her in an orphanage (she was not allowed to return to her family and village because of her deformities) adopted her and brought her back to Phoenix and through the Foundation for Burns and Trauma, fundraisers, and hospital, surgical, and anesthesia financial assistance we were able to change her life. Gracie recently graduated from college with high honors and is spending the summer on a Leighton Educational Scholarship touring Greece.
1. (L to R) Gracie's best friend Katie, Gracie's mom Beth, Dr. Ruth Rimmer of the Arizona Burn Center and her husband at the Sustainable Outreach Solutions Spring 2010 fundraiser. |
| This boy's mother, on drugs, tried to commit suicide by starting the family's house on fire. He extricated his 2 burned sisters from the house but could not get his unconscious mother out, she died. His burns primarily involved his face and he underwent the technique of serial expansion and excision advancing expanded unburned neck skin multiple times to excise all burn scar to the lower eyelids and upper cheeks, with dermabrasion of the forehead. He has subsequently had the ectropion (droop) of his lower eyelids corrected. He was adopted by a nurse in the Burn Unit at Maricopa Medical Center. |
This boy was burned when an aerosol can exploded igniting his shirt severely burning his neck, chest and arms.Textured expanders were placed under the skin of his posterior shoulders and used to create expanded medially based flaps to reconstruct his anterior neck and upper arms. He is now working as a Firefighter/Paramedic with the Glendale Fire Department and volunteers as a counselor at Camp Courage Burn Camp in Prescott.
1. Dr Leighton with the patient and another patient/Firefighter/Paramedic at Camp Courage Burn Camp in Prescott run by the Foundation for Burns and Trauma. |
| This young man was involved in a multiple fatality helicopter crash while in the service. An expander was placed under his goatee,which was expanded and used to reconstruct his lip as a delayed bipedicle flap, closing the donor site under his chin primarily. The pedicles in front of his ears were divided 3 weeks later leaving the expanded hair bearing flap as his new upper lip, using the upper lip scar to reconstruct his lower nose. |
| This most unfortunate baby girl sustained what should have been a lethal dose of total body burns when a faulty electrical outlet ignited the sheets and blanket on her bed which then ignited her pajamas. She was reconstructed after initial meshed skin grafting with expanded full thickness skin grafts harvested from her back, allowing primary closure of the donor site. This was repeated multiple times using the same back donor site. The use of toxic antibiotics to save her life resulted in permanent deafness. |
Dr. Leighton could not change the lives of his patients without the help of his world class team of nurses, surgical scrub technicians, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, and hand surgeons at Piper Surgery Center and the new pediatric patient care facilities at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Hospital.
1. Patient Greg Parker with Piper Recovery Care Center Nurse Heather Houser. 2. Anesthesiologist Dr Steve Wiclkund with Piper Center Recovery Room Nurse Kathy Pamiroyan. 3. Dr. Leighton with Surgical Scrub Technician Frank Gillette. 4. (Back L to R) Patient and Burn Patient Counselor Greg Parker, Chief of Plastic Surgery Mayo Clinic Dr. Anthony Smith, Pediatrician Dr. Habes Sawalqah, Plastic Surgeon Medhi Mazaheri, Dr. Leighton, Patient Jason Schechterle. (Front) Patient Nidal. 5. Patient Nidal from the Middle East. 6. Dr. Anthony Smith with Nidal. 7. Nidal with his friend Jeri Davis RN, MBA Associate Vice President Scottsdale Healthcare Foundation. 8. Drs. Leighton and Dr. Sawalqah with Nidal. 9. Dr. Leighton with Surgical Scrub Technician Lori Stevens.10. Dr. Leighton with Pediatric Hospitalist Dr. Ron Williams. 11. Dr. Jack Friedland, Dr. Leighton's mentor and partner. Harriet Friedland (L). Mary Ann Wentzel, Dr. Leighton's office manager (R). 12. Piper Recovery Care Nurse Extraordinaire Connie Reynolds. The Best of the Best. 13. (L to R) Anesthesiologist Dr. Alan Greenberg, Golf Pro and Dr. Leighton's Brother John Leighton, Anesthesiologist Dr. Joseph Sandor and wife Sherilyn, Sustainable Outreach Solutions Chairman Ken Bailie. 14. Medical Aesthetician Ashley Harris. 15. Airplane Accident Burn Patients Stephanie and Christian Nielson. 16. Burn Patients Jason Schechterle and Stephanie Nielson. 17. Joe Pongratz and his wife Anissa. Pongratz Orthotics and Prosthetics 602-222-3506 fabricates scar compression masks for Dr. Leighton's Burn Patients. 18. Peggy Reiley, Chief Nursing Officer and Sr. Vice President Scottsdale Healthcare, Kim Post, Vice President of Operations Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Campus., with Dr. Leighton and Nidal from Palestine on the new Pediatrics floor at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea. 19. Dr Leighton at Piper Surgery Center with Phenomenal Surgical Circulating Nurse Lisa Taylor and Patient Greg Parker. 20. Dr Leighton and guests at the Arizona Institute for Breast Health Pink Light District Lighting Ceremony where he was the Premier Sponsor. |
| The Mayo Arizona Plastic Surgery Residency Faculty with the First Graduating Resident from the Program. (LtoR) Alanna Rebecca, MD, Dr Leighton, Anthony Smith, MD, Chief of Plastic Surgery and Program Director, Hans Kim, MD First Program Graduate, Edward Joganic, MD, Paul Zidel, MD, William Casey, MD. |
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