The first morning we arrived at the clinic, eager to begin our service. We soon were busy clearing a place for the patients' shoes, because in India people usually remove their shoes as they enter a building. Later in the day, when we went out to run errands, we were puzzled to find that no shoes had been left there— until we realized that the patients had none. Many of them had walked as much as 30 days on bare feet, hoping to see the "miracle" doctors and be cured.

In all. we saw 2,160 patients over the span of five days. But we were not able to help medically the two patients who ultimately had the greatest impact on my heart.

One of these patients was an elderly man with severe arthritis. According to camp medical director Dr. Prasad, the attending physician told the old man nothing could be done for him.