For most people, retirement comes with days filled with relaxation- sipping on coffee on your patio while reading the newspaper. But for Toh Hong Keng, a 70-year-old Malaysian, retirement means living his days studying and working hard in medical school.

On July 2024, Toh, who lives in Hong Kong, could have been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records by becoming one of the oldest students in the world to graduate from medical school.

He finished his studies in a university in Cebu, Southwestern University PHINMA in the Philippines. The country's medical learning program is one of the best in the Asia.

As a child, Toh grew up in a humble rubber plantation in a province of Malaysia. Life was simple back then. He’d wake up at four in the morning and collect rubber from trees before heading to school.

Yet despite this, Toh worked hard. He simply had one goal in life; to make his and his family’s life better. Toh said that taking the medical path has never been a childhood dream, it was an idea that sparked after a meaningful conversation with two Indian medical students whom he met back in Kyrgyzstan.

He strived to lead a successful and meaningful life. This perseverance earned him the chance to study chemistry and control engineering at the University of Bradford in England between 1974 and 1978. And during summer breaks, he took a job as a waiter in order to pay for his finances. And later, he flew to London to finish his master’s degree.

Toh didn’t stop there. He landed multiple jobs around Asia, jumping back from one to another before eventually, he met his wife and settled in Hong Kong with her and their three children.

It was then that Toh entered the corporate world, a world that he eventually left to pursue a medical career in 2019. It wasn’t easy- people around him, including his friends and family doubted his decision. He stated that they thought he was crazy for pursuing a medical career despite his old age.

But Toh persevered. Even when he was at, what most people would call- a disadvantage, he kept going.

According to him, there was one word that motivated him to continue despite all the hardships he went through; which included being held back a year after he failed his pediatric exam in his third year.

Sayang.

‘Sayang naman’. A Tagalog phrase that expresses how it would be “a shame to just give up”. Toh believed that all his efforts so far would simply go to waste if he were to give up now. After all, he has come so far. He just needed a few more… grueling steps.

Toh’s perseverance and diligence weren’t his only characteristics, it’s his resilience.

As stated by university dean Dr. Marvi Dulnuan-Niog Toh never asked for any special accommodations even with his eyesight, memory, body and hearing being weaker than his younger students. He refused them, in fact.

To enter and to finish medical school was easier said than done for Toh. Most medical schools had an age limit of 35 to 40. He found it hard to find a program that would accept him. However- fortunate enough as he is, after contacting his former employee whose daughter graduated from a medical school in the Philippines, he came across Southwestern University PHINMA.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in his second year, he had to move back to Hong Kong in order to shift his lectures into online classes. And in his last year of medical school, he was tasked to complete a mandatory internship at both public and private hospital, a task deemed more exhausting for a man of his age.

Finally- he graduated. But despite the gruesome years in medical school, Toh didn’t see himself as practicing physician. According to him, it would be fine even if he didn’t become one, at least, he could take care of himself better with the help of his profound knowledge about medicine. With this, he, instead, worked as a consultant for allergies and immunology diagnostics for his friend’s company in his hometown.

But Toh’s journey didn’t end there yet. As his years as a medical student came to an end, Toh had an idea- to give back to the world. He started a scholarship fund for financially struggling foreign students. In that case, they’ll be given a better chance to pursue their dreams.

In the end, Toh believes that if you have a dream to be a doctor, your age shouldn’t stop you.

It is never too late to learn, grow, and chase after the dreams you may have thought were out of reach. If you truly want something- just do it. Age doesn’t define you, your determination and attitude does.