From Tricycle Dreams to Healing Hands: The Long, Faith-Fueled Journey of Dr. Juliana Delos Reyes

The plan was simple: come home, visit her ailing mother, and speak before graduating students of her alma mater. Instead, the homecoming of Filipino Catholic Dr. Juliana A. Delos Reyes became something far more profound, a farewell, a tribute, and a testament to a life shaped by loss, resilience, and unwavering faith.

Standing before senior high school graduates at Oriental Mindoro National High School, the UK-based stroke physician did not just deliver a speech. She told a story, her own, threaded with grief, gratitude, and a message that resonated far beyond the school grounds.

At the end, her voice trembled as she strummed a guitar and sang “Anak,” the iconic song by Freddie Aguilar, a tribute not only to her late parents, but to every sacrifice they made so their children could rise.

A journey that began with almost nothing

Born on February 16, 1977, Delos Reyes’ early brilliance was evident. She graduated as valedictorian of Oriental Mindoro High School in 1992. But behind the medals was a childhood marked by financial hardship.

She would later recall arriving at Ateneo de Manila University as a scholar, not in a private car like many of her peers, but in a tricycle her father hailed from Cubao.

“I just turned 15 then, a naive country girl,” she wrote in a Facebook post, recalling the moment her father hesitated to leave her at the campus gates. It would be the last time she saw him well. He died months later at 46.

That loss would shape her path.

Medicine, migration, and resilience

Delos Reyes earned her medical degree from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila in 2000, but her journey to becoming a specialist was far from straightforward.

She took up nursing as a strategic step, working locum shifts while preparing to train abroad. In 2005, she moved to Ireland, working as a nurse while completing licensure exams. It took five years before she could return fully to medicine.

“I finally went back to Medicine in 2010,” she said. From there, she climbed steadily, senior house officer, medical registrar, and eventually a trainee in general internal medicine and geriatrics.

Her pursuit of excellence brought her to the United Kingdom, where she completed a stroke fellowship at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

By 2021, she had become a consultant stroke physician at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

A healer tested

Even as she built a career healing others, Delos Reyes faced her own battles.

In 2002, she underwent open-heart surgery for an atrial septal defect, a congenital condition. Two decades later, in 2022, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The diagnosis, she said, reshaped her perspective.

“My cancer helped me believe in my inner strength, prioritize what is important… and strengthen my faith in God,” she shared.

She completed surgery and chemotherapy and returned to full-time work—another chapter in what she calls a “long and bumpy journey” that was nonetheless “worth it.”

At her speech, Delos Reyes honored her mother, who had recently passed away from heart failure. But beyond grief, she distilled her mother’s legacy into four values: determination, hard work, humility, and faith.

Her message struck a chord. “Truly, poverty is not a hindrance to success,” one listener wrote. “Thank you for inspiring not just the students, but also the parents and teachers,” another said.

Others noted her humility, delivering such a powerful speech in Filipino despite her global career.

A life anchored in gratitude

If her professional achievements span continents, her sense of purpose remains rooted at home.

She has no immediate plans to practice in the Philippines, but she intends to return regularly, especially for medical missions serving the elderly. She also supports scholars through the Ateneo Alumni Scholarship Association, helping students who, like her, dream beyond their circumstances.

Her personal life, she admits, took a backseat. “I just got busy with work,” she said when asked why she never married.

But in many ways, her life has been devoted to a different kind of family, patients, scholars, and the community that shaped her.

A daughter’s song

As the final notes of “Anak” faded, there were a few dry eyes in the audience.

For Delos Reyes, the performance was a nod to the father who once urged her to “sing louder,” and to the mother whose quiet strength carried their family through hardship.

“Whatever I have achieved in life,” she wrote, “they are all for Tatay… and for Inay.”

In that moment, the accomplished physician from abroad was no longer defined by titles or accolades. She was simply a daughter, singing her story home.