WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Unlike many of his teammates who vacationed on the beaches of Puerto Rico, West Point rugby firstie Nicholas Satwicz spent his spring break volunteering with Medical Missions for Children (MMFC) in Rwanda.

Satwicz joined his father and mother, Paul and Nancy, as the group traveled to Kibagabaga Hospital.

The Newton, Mass., native was tasked with the upkeep of a blog to document the group's weeklong excursion to the East African country.

Below is the final blog entry of his seven-day trip. For a complete look at the trip, view Satwicz's entire blog here.

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Saturday arrived and the majority of the team packed up and moved out while a few of us stuck back to see the gorillas in Rwanda's National Park; an amazing experience in it of itself.

Looking back, when I signed on for this trip I didn't know what to expect. As the new member to a team that had been coming to Rwanda for years, I didn't know how I, or the rest of the new members, would fit in. This group took us in and welcomed us with open arms.  By the end of day one, we were a team; by the end of the week, we were a family. Working sometimes upwards of 14-hour work days, we relied on one another to step up and assist each other when needed. We picked each other up with laughter and camaraderie, and we pushed each other to do the best work possible for our patients. Jana accurately summed the trip up reflecting how everyone checked their ego at the door. Not one person was above a job on this trip. Each member pushed through jet lag, long days, hot weather, and competing demands to do their job, and we did that job well. 

In the end, we completed 22 surgeries on incredibly deserving individuals. Better yet, each one of those patients walked out of the hospital with a smile and without complications. The doctors pushed themselves, but never to the point where they put a single patient in danger, an important distinction to realize on trips like these when we all want to work around the clock to help as many people as possible. 

By the same accord, the people we helped were so deserving and appreciative of our aid. They are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, each with a unique and fascinating story and each now with a new opportunity to dictate their story moving forward. Little Christian no longer has to go through his early days of school with a growing cyst on the bottom of his jawline. Nyiraregwa can continue being the life of the party without a goiter slowly pushing on her vocal chords and putting upward pressure on her enlightening smile. Fortune can learn to trust modern medicine again, and her beaming smile after surgery stands as a testament to medicine's progress in Rwanda. Jovia can enlighten her husband's day and give him the surprise of a lifetime. All of these people have a new breadth of fresh air in life; a new hope for the future. 

Accordingly, in just a short time we made a tremendous impact in a number of people's lives. For each patient we saved, another 5-10 of their family members came to us blessing us and expressing their love and gratitude for our work. While not always fatal in nature, goiters can have terrible ramifications if left untreated. Many of these patients, some single parents, have upwards of 8-10 children. Our work helped ensure that these children would never grow up without their mother or father as a result of thyroid complications. Before we treated them, they likely never believed they had a chance at being helped. These patients have been turned away from numerous hospitals and left on a waiting list for thyroid surgery that extends hundreds of individuals long. Healthcare in Rwanda is on the rise, but with an intense lack of ENT surgeons in the country and an over abundance of thyroid issues, a great disparity persists, requiring our continued help.

With that, another vital component of our involvement throughout the week came through the education and mentorship of local medical personnel. Working with residents, doctors, nurses and anesthesia techs at the Kibagabaga Hospital, each member of our team taught their unique skill sets to their counterparts and helped mentor the future of Rwanda's medicine. Our presence, and the broad-based media coverage associated with it, will hopefully continue to shed light on the growing need to address thyroid surgery in the country. 

While we may have only touched the surface with this surgery in Rwanda, just a week of work touched the lives of hundreds of people, and our legacy will continue on for years to come as the team continues with follow on missions.

Before I wrap up this final blog, I want to thank all of you for your continued support in reading this blog. Additionally, a special thank you to Ethicon, as without their generous donations this trip would not have been possible. Lastly, I want to personally acknowledge each member of this incredible family, without whom none of this amazing work could have happened.

Dr. Jagdish Dhingra: As a new member on the team, I had never met Jag before but had heard nothing but incredible things about his work and drive. Described as a superstar by Jana, he lived up to the name and produced impeccable results with each of his patients.  Light-hearted (and surprisingly quite a good dancer), Jag never lost his composure even when dealing with the high pressure to perform on as many people as possible. Instead, he remained focused and kind to every patient and team member he worked with. As the team leader, Jag kept this whole operation together and without him, the lives of so many people would not have been changed for the better.

Dr. Merry Sebelik: Bringing a wealth of experience from medical mission trips across the world, Merry fit right in with the group and became an indispensable member of the operating room. Working side-by-side with Jag, she immediately developed a chemistry that brought them efficient and beautiful results in the OR. In addition, her kindness and incredible work ethic always left her open to helping others. Immediately after a case when we'd ask for her help or opinion on a patient, and when I'm sure she was tired from hours of intense focus in the OR, she never hesitated, but instead got up with excitement and asked how she could help. A delight to be around, the success of this trip would not have been possible without Merry's strong work.

Dr. Paul Satwicz: Paul fit right in with the group with the help of his corny dad jokes and light-hearted but motivating poems to end the day. He brought great joy to the group and all of his patients, singing to little Christian to put him at ease before surgery and later finding a way to get the entire operating room to erupt in song. His light-hearted nature made it easy for the surgeons to work with but it never interrupted his constant professionalism at critical moments of a case. Additionally, his calm demeanor provided a great teaching platform for the anesthesia techs under his guidance.

Dr. Stewart Chritton: Very similar to Paul, Stewart's calm and collected personality made it extremely easy to work with and he took a vested interest in mentoring the anesthesia techs assigned to him. Having worked in Rwanda for over a year through the HRH program, Stewart brought a unique perspective and knowledge vital to the team. Additionally, his warm and friendly personality built a strong partnership between him and Paul and made it a pleasure for all of us to learn from and interact with him.

Tatyana Lashchuk: Tatyana is one of the most dedicated nurses I've met. Her chemistry in the OR with Jag and Merry was unparalleled as she often knew what instrument to give them before they even asked for it, making each surgery go efficiently and smoothly. One day, feeling the effects of the heat, Tatyana was ordered to sit out a case while getting plugged with an IV. At one point during the case, one of the machines in the OR was making distracting noises and no one seemed to know how to fix it. Who then, but Tatyana, rushed out of bed, IV in hand, to solve the issue. She then guzzled down a bottle of water and asked to scrub in the next case. That's the kind of girl Tatyana is; tough as nails and impossible to keep down. Her witty humor kept everyone on their toes and she was an absolute delight to be around. After her first trip, Jag said he wouldn't do another trip without her, and she's been a vital member of the team ever since.

Nancy Satwicz: An essential piece of the operating room, Nancy kept everything together with her flexibility and warm personality. If a nurse needed a break, Nancy stepped up to scrub in and seamlessly transitioned the work between cases. Her close work with the surgeons throughout the case and her quick work cleaning the OR after surgery allowed for great efficiency in the OR and ensured that we got to every case possible. In addition, her warm and caring nature looked over everyone on the trip, and she ensured our team worked at its maximum potential. She took care of our team when someone needed help and she handled patients with unrivaled love, serving as the backbone of our OR. 

Jana Barkman: A veteran now on these trips, Jana brought experience, energy and great passion for work in the PACU. Full of life, she worked tirelessly to ensure that her patients had everything they needed before and after surgery. A constant professional, Jana's deep care for her patients was evident in every person she dealt with. Her flexibility and leadership help keep the team together as well, as she scrubbed in on cases, provided IVs, and intubated patients in addition to her normal PACU duties. She could get the room laughing with her warm personality or captivate it with the care she took with patients and she will remain a valued member of the team for years to come.

Shannon O'Keefe: Just like Jana, Shannon was a veteran on this team and their chemistry in the PACU together was evident from day one. A beaming and joyful presence in the PACU, Shannon brought laughter and energy to all of the staff and patients she encountered. Full of treats and toys for both patients and our team, Shannon was an essential part of the camaraderie we developed within our team and with our patients. Just like Jana, she performed numerous jobs outside of her normal PACU responsibilities, and her flexibility and drive allowed this team to function so well together. Another leader on this team, Shannon kept this team together with her big heart and impeccable skills as a nurse.

I should note that when I came in, I wasn't exactly sure what my role would be on the trip. Among other things, I assimilated myself primarily in the PACU as Shannon and Jana took me under their wing. Two of the most amazing nurses, and people for that matter, that I've had the pleasure to meet, they mentored me throughout the week and showed what right looked like in terms of patient care in a hospital.

Vianney Ruhumuliza: Vianney ran the show on this trip. Incredibly selflessly, he moved the trip away from his hometown in Gitwe to the capital in Kigali, knowing that we could impact a far broader base of people there even at the cost of some of his dear friends and neighbors. With a celebrity-like presence in Rwanda, Vianney seemed to know just about everyone, and if we needed something done we went to him. He set up our luxurious accommodations, established our travel plans, got every supply we needed, translated, triaged and cared for patients, and organized our arrangement with the local hospital. No matter how difficult the task, he would simply smile and say 'don't worry I'll take care of it,' Giving up his vacation to help us, Vianney was the MVP of our trip, working tirelessly to make sure everything went smoothly, and he always did so with a smile.

Overall, the team blew me away with all of their work and selflessness throughout the trip. Each person gave up vacation time to travel across the world, working extremely hard in tough conditions to make a difference in other people's lives. I'm humbled to be part of such an incredibly gifted and caring team. When asked about my favorite or most memorable part of the trip, I respond without question that it was the people. From the doctors and nurses on our team, to the staff at our hotel, to the patients and their families, I was in constant awe of how truly amazing these people are.

In the end, Rwanda was an incredible experience; one that I hope everyone can seek out in the future. The country is beautiful and its people are even better. Their ability to forgive and unite in the most horrid of circumstances amazes me and should serve as a benchmark and teaching point for years to come. By the end of week, I came out of the week with clear eyes and a full heart for the good that exists in people and for the impact that our actions can have around the world.

For our team, this family that we developed over the week, it was an honor to serve with you. I will never forget this week, the bond I shared with all of you, or the incredible people of Rwanda that we helped. Our work here is far from done, but we can walk away with our heads held high at all of the people we managed to save, looking upwards at the many more to come in the future.