Ruben Lopez, a 25-year-old man, arrived to the medical mission here in Chiapas, Mexico wearing a surgical mask to cover his face. He was painfully shy and introverted and lived his whole life confining himself to his room, playing video games and never attending school because he was so ashamed of his cleft lip. When Ruben's brother heard about Operation Smile he said 25 years of shame is too long, and he brought his brother to the medical mission. It was obvious to the medical team that Ruben's character had been shaken over the years. He was reluctant to answer questions during his medical assessment and he would hardly make any eye contact at all. Fortunately, the volunteer speech therapist was able to work with him and within just one speech therapy lesson, his confidence had drastically improved. He thought, maybe his life could get better, even at age 25.

Ruben saw mostly young children and babies at the hospital hoping to receive surgery, and he was apprehensive to agree to surgery himself. With some convincing, the team did schedule Ruben for surgery. On the day of his surgery, Ruben was understandably nervous. But after recovery, the night nurses said he woke up at 3 a.m., dressed himself, and stared at his new smile in the mirror for hours.

When morning came and Ruben's family came to see him, he jumped up to give his family big hugs and burst into tears just seeing his family's reaction to his surgery. He left the hospital with a great big smile in place of the surgical mask he had been wearing to hide his face for all these years.