Some trips don’t go as planned. And sometimes, that’s exactly the point.
When John Lightfield left Milbank in early March, his truck was packed with braces, shoes, socks, walkers, and wheelchairs. It was also sleeting. What should have been a straightforward drive to Minneapolis took nearly five hours. Then came the de-icing delay. Then a cancelled connecting flight. Then three Lyfts, a hotel lobby full of luggage, and about three hours of sleep before the team rallied and made it to the gate just in time to catch a flight that, technically, they weren’t supposed to be on anymore.
They made it. And everything that followed made the chaos worth it.
John Lightfield, PT, Tony Schotzko, PT, Tina Tomala, COTA, and Nicole Neisen, SLP traveled to San Lucas, Guatemala earlier this year as part of an ongoing mission partnership that Big Stone Therapies has supported for years. Nicole, a former BST clinician, brought her SLP expertise to the team alongside Tina’s husband and Tony’s daughter, who also made the trip. With PT, OT, and SLP all represented, the team was equipped to meet a wide range of needs across the communities they served.
A Partnership That Has Grown
For John, this was his fifth trip to San Lucas. The difference between then and now is striking.
On his first visit, he and one other therapist traveled between communities in the back of a pickup truck, seeing around 30 patients over four days of care. This year, the team set up structured clinic sites in villages, allowing patients to come to them. Over four days, the four clinicians saw more than 120 people.
What has made that growth possible is consistency. BST’s ongoing commitment to this partnership has allowed something rare in short-term mission work: continuity of care. Medical records now exist. Prior treatments are documented. The people of San Lucas aren’t starting from scratch each time a team arrives.
The Work Itself
Each day brought a different village, a different set of needs, and a different opportunity to be creative with the resources at hand.
The team came prepared with donated shoes, braces for the spine, knee, ankle, and wrist, theraband, gauze, ace bandages, and more, all organized into 12 suitcases and duffel bags the night before departure. In the villages, they worked out of basic setups, massage tables as treatment tables, open spaces shared across all three disciplines, no climate control, and limited equipment compared to any of their home clinics.
Tony reflected on what that environment revealed. “I found that I was able to get by with less, and sometimes had better, more personal interactions without all of the extra conveniences of my home clinic.” The people they served, he noted, had a genuine way of connecting that left a lasting impression.
One of the most memorable moments from the trip came on day two, when Tony worked with a seven-year-old girl who had severe foot deformities. Her feet had been rotated 90 degrees outward her entire life, causing her to walk on the arch of her foot. With a set of custom AFOs and a pair of donated pink shoes that fit as though they had been made for her, she walked with her feet facing forward for the first time.
“The joy and happiness of that interaction will stick with me,” Tony wrote. “The mother and daughter were just so grateful.”
What made the moment even richer was the collaboration happening around it. Nicole stepped in with language and vocabulary games to keep the child engaged and at ease during the fitting process, a small detail that captures something larger about how this team operated.
“It was fun to work in an open space with all disciplines of therapy,” Tony said. “It allowed immediate and fruitful collaboration.”
16 Years Later
If Tony’s AFO moment was the joy of the trip, John’s final patient visit was its quiet, profound heart.
On the last day, the team made a home visit to a woman they had served before. Sixteen years ago, John had brought her a prosthetic leg. He still had the photo on his phone.
She was now blind and couldn’t see the picture when he showed it to her family. But through a translator, she told him she was thankful every single day and thanked God for “Dr. Juan,” the man who had brought her that prosthetic so many years ago.
The translator told her that Dr. Juan was, in fact, standing right in front of her.
“We shared a long hug and quite a few tears,” John said.
Coming Home Different
Both Tony and John returned to Minnesota with something they hadn’t packed.
Tony described the trip as a reminder of how much clutter accumulates in everyday life, and how stepping away from it cleared something. “It was refreshing for my soul,” he said. “I came back with a breath of fresh air and some new perspective.”
John put it simply:
My cup is full again.
That phrase says something important. These are experienced clinicians. Dedicated professionals. People who chose healthcare because they wanted to make a difference, and who have spent careers doing exactly that. And still, this trip gave them something their day-to-day work couldn’t quite provide in that moment. Not because their daily work doesn’t matter, but because sometimes perspective requires distance.
BST’s Role in Making It Possible
Trips like this don’t happen by accident. Big Stone Therapies covered missed work time for traveling clinicians and contributed to travel costs, removing two of the biggest barriers that might otherwise keep someone from saying yes. That kind of organizational support reflects something real about BST’s values, that service beyond the clinic walls is worth investing in.
Would You Go?
Both Tony and John were asked what they would say to someone on the fence about participating.
Tony’s answer: “Take a leap of faith. I have not met anyone who went that doesn’t remember it fondly.”
John’s: “The gratitude, the appreciation is so amazing that it just gives a person warm fuzzies.”
The next trip to San Lucas is an opportunity waiting. If you’re a BST clinician or student curious about what it looks like to bring your skills somewhere they’re deeply needed, consider this your invitation to ask.