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Childhood dream deferred takes shape at seventy-three when Lourdes Del Guingaro enters medicine, transforms a long career in education into a university fresh start, and shows that age, retirement, and life changes did not prevent the pursuit of a new future
The dream of studying medicine, kept since childhood, finally began to materialize for Lourdes Moraes Del Guingaro at seventy-three years old. A retired teacher, with degrees in geography and architecture, she became a student of the Medicine course at Anhembi Morumbi University and began writing a new chapter of her own story after decades of work, family, and postponements.
Her journey draws attention because it brings together rare elements in a single story. Lourdes has already built a career in teaching, worked in both public and private networks, was a director, moved on to teaching supervision, retired, completed another degree, and yet, decided to try again to fulfill her old desire. Now, with the support of her husband and son, she aims for an even more symbolic goal: to graduate from college at eighty years old.
The dream Lourdes carried since childhood
The desire to study medicine didn’t just emerge now. According to Lourdes herself, this wish had always been present since childhood, but it was postponed over the years. At different points in her life, she saw the dream as something distant and with no real possibility of happening.
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This persistence of the desire over time is what makes the story so remarkable. Even after building a solid career and completing other degrees, the idea of studying medicine did not disappear. It simply remained on hold until a new opportunity arose.
The professional journey before reaching medicine
Before entering medical school, Lourdes built a long career in education. Her first degree was in geography, an area in which she began her career and worked as a teacher. Later, she took a competitive exam for school principal and advanced to teaching supervision, the role from which she retired.
She summarizes this journey by saying that she completed her entire teaching career. This gives dimension to the scale of the current turning point. Entering medicine is not a first attempt at education, but a profound reinvention after years of consolidated professional experience.
The third college degree and a fresh start that draws attention
Medicine is the third college degree Lourdes has pursued. After geography, she also studied architecture. At another point, she even enrolled in a law course, but did not continue. Still, her main dream remained linked to the medical field.
This fact helps to show that her trajectory was not linear. She went through different educational paths, experienced personal and professional changes, and continued accumulating experiences until she decided to face one of the country’s most challenging entrance exams. The result transformed her old dream into a concrete reality.
What changed for her to try now
One of the decisive moments came after retirement. Lourdes moved to Caraguatatuba with her husband, who had suffered a heart attack and needed a more suitable place to recover. It was during this period that she began her architecture degree and, over time, started to reconsider the possibility of entering medicine.
The decision matured gradually. Already retired, she began saving resources and started to see a more realistic chance of putting the plan into action. It was online that she found information about the entrance exam and decided to try. She registered, took the test, was approved, and began to occupy the position that for so many years seemed distant.
The numbers that help to dimension this story
Lourdes’s own journey brings numbers that help measure the weight of her fresh start. She entered medicine at seventy-three and plans to finish the course at eighty. Before that, she had already completed geography and architecture, in addition to having started law. She also built an intense family life, with marriage, a son who is now 42, and an 8-year-old grandson.
These data show that the approval did not happen in a moment of empty life or without accumulated responsibilities. On the contrary, it came after a long road, laden with work, family experiences, and postponed decisions. This expands the impact of the story and reinforces the idea that the dream resisted time.
Family support that made the dream viable
To maintain her study routine, Lourdes relies on direct family support. She lives in Cotia and commutes daily to the university with the help of her husband, who drives her to and from classes. She also highlights her son’s support as an essential part of this process.
This point is central because it shows that starting over doesn’t always depend solely on individual will. In Lourdes’s case, the dream gains practical sustenance through her family network. Daily support helps transform approval into permanence, something indispensable in a long and demanding course like medicine.
University life and the new phase as a student
In addition to family structure, Lourdes highlights her relationship with her classmates as an important part of this new stage. According to her, the environment found at the university has been positive and welcoming. The camaraderie with colleagues appears as a strengthening element in this life change.
This helps show that late entry into higher education does not have to be marked by isolation. Lourdes’s university experience is not limited to the academic challenge. It also involves integration, adaptation, and the construction of new relationships at a time in life when many people imagine that great beginnings would no longer be possible.
What this story reveals about starting over and education
Lourdes’s story goes beyond medical school admission. It positions education as a permanent space for transformation, regardless of age. Instead of treating retirement as an endpoint, she transformed it into a passage to a new life project.
This movement draws attention because it confronts a common idea that certain dreams have a deadline. By entering medicine after 70, Lourdes shows that starting over can be a concrete choice, provided there is determination, persistence, and some condition to sustain the path.
The goal of graduating at eighty years old
Today, Lourdes has a clear goal: to complete her medical degree at eighty years old. She recognizes that the process depends on her own health and the continuity of her study routine, but makes it clear that her intention is to see it through to the end.
This projection gives even more strength to the story because it transforms the admission into something greater than an isolated achievement. It’s not just about passing the entrance exam, but about progressing through the entire education and reaching the diploma as a symbol of a dream maintained for decades and finally set in motion.
Do you believe that stories like Lourdes’s help more people realize that it’s never too late to pursue an old dream?
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