M.D. Harun Ayangil

We brought our 78-year-old father, who had developed an incarcerated inguinal hernia, to Dr. Harun Ayangil. Given his age and comorbidities (COPD and mild heart failure), we were terrified of surgery. Dr. Ayangil didn't just see a hernia; he saw our whole father. He coordinated with cardiology and pulmonology, devised a minimally invasive laparoscopic plan tailored for his physiology, and explained every risk in Anatolian Turkish so clear our dad nodded along. The surgery was swift, recovery in the pediatric surgery ward (they made an exception) was gentle, and his follow-up was meticulous. He treated our elderly parent with the protective care of a pediatrician-surgeon hybrid. A true *hüner*.

Our 8-day-old newborn, Elif, was diagnosed with esophageal atresia in utero. The world collapsed. At Acıbadem Kayseri, Dr. Ayangil met us not with empty platitudes but with a hand-drawn diagram on his notepad—showing the gap, the planned repair, the timeline. 'This is our mountain; we will climb it together,' he said. The complex thoracic surgery lasted hours; he updated us personally every 90 minutes. In the NICU, he adjusted her tiny chest tube himself, his fingers impossibly precise. What stays with us is his 'vigilance rounds' at 11 PM, long after his shift, just to check her stats. Our daughter eats normally now. He didn't just fix a pipe; he gave her a future.

A frantic Thursday night: our 6-year-old son, Yigit, fell from a tree, impaling his abdomen on a branch. The ER called Dr. Ayangil from home. He was there in 20 minutes, still in his civilian coat. No panic. He assessed the penetrating trauma, ruled out major vessel injury with a focused ultrasound right there, and took Yigit directly to OR for exploratory laparoscopy. He found and repaired a small bowel perforation, preserving every centimeter of intestine. His post-op explanation was a calm, technical story that somehow soothed us: 'The branch was a rude guest; we showed it the door and mended the curtain it tore.' No infection, minimal scar. He turns trauma into a tidy narrative of recovery.

Routine checkup for our 4-year-old's umbilical hernia turned into a masterclass in anticipatory care. Dr. Ayangil noticed her slight waddling gait—something we'd blamed on toddler clumsiness. With gentle probing, he uncovered occasional urinary discomfort. He suspected an associated bladder issue sometimes seen with abdominal wall defects. Instead of dismissing it, he ordered a non-invasive ultrasound, revealing a mild bladder diverticulum. 'We can watch it with the hernia,' he said, crafting a single, coordinated surveillance plan. He sees the child, not just the chart. His clinic is quiet, he listens more than he speaks, and his diagnoses feel like discoveries, not verdicts. We left with a plan, not just a prescription.