Dylan Bengston is a non-medical volunteer (and cousin to Blake Bengston, who we featured on the blog last summer) who traveled with LEAP on our October mission to Haiti. We caught up with him to learn more about his experience. Here’s what he had to say.
Being a part of the LEAP surgical mission to Haiti was definitely one of the most influential, eye-opening experiences of my whole life. The team I was able to work with and all of the patients were absolutely fantastic, and I feel so blessed to have been a part of it. Everyone on the team was so focused and engaged in our objective while we were there, and it was incredible to learn under so many professionals. I think LEAP is an amazing organization. We were able to have a fun time while still focusing fully on whatever task was at hand. I became close with so many awesome people, and that was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole experience. I learned so much about not only medicine but also about the people of Haiti and the country itself.
One of my favorite moments was seeing one young patient with a cleft lip and palate who was around 3 months old. Everyone was infatuated with his smile and spirit. and he was just the most uplifting little guy, even while he was going through a tough experience. Overall, it was amazing to see the look on all of the parents’ faces when their kids got out of surgery, and I loved being able to tell them that everything went great and just see the hope in their eyes.
The trip was different than I thought it would be in a good way. In no way at all was the atmosphere stressful or tense at any time, and everyone on the team always had a smile on their face. My heart was very touched with the impact that we were able to have and all of the lives we were able to improve.