Leo Rey Tejares – Region VI

In the province known to be “where the mountains meet the sea”, it was December 2, 1975; when the 10th child of Mr. and Mrs. Pablito Tejares was born. He was named Leo Rey a.k.a Jun-jun. Leo means “lion” and Rey means “one of the Kings of Spain”. My childhood was full of dreams and ambitions, there was a time when I wanted to be a Priest. But as years went by, my dreams changed. Until one day, all of my dreams were gone. Our family was faced with a financial crisis. I finished my secondary education in a public school and was able to get into a private college here in Antique. I took up Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish college. I only finished until my 3rd year in that course. Because of our financial situaion, I decided to find a job. In the year 2001, I took a risk and went to boracay to find a job; a waiter, bartender, cultural dancer in a resort, etc were only a few of the jobs I did for a living. That was until 2006, when I was hired in Lamberto H. Tirol National High School as a Physical Eduation Instructor in their Arts and Sciences curriculum. In 2013, I started to feeling really sick. At first, it was just slight coughing until it eventually became a productive cough, some back and chest pain, late afternoon fever, and night sweats. By the way, I was a chain smoker and an alcohol drinker during that time (Boracay life is full of vices that is bad for our health). I was diagnosed with PTB, I started my treatment as DSTB Category I for 6 months but failed, I underwent DSTB Category II treatment  (with Streptomycin Injections) but treatment also failed. The doctors advised me to undergo a sputum test (RTDL/Gene Expert). There, it was found that I was Rifampicin resistant. I enrolled as an MDRTB in 2014, at Western Visayas Medical Center PMDT STC under Conventional Treatment Regimen (CTR), which includes: Pyrazinamide 500mg tablet, Prothionamide 250mg tablet, Cycloserine 250mg capsule, Levoflaxin 500mg tablet, Kanamycin 1g/vial, Pyridoxine 50mg tablet. I finished my treatment just last 2016. After my treatment, I was hired by San Jose LGU as a PMDT Organic Clerk until present. Now, I am happy and blessed to be an advocate to my fellow TB patients and survivors. God had a great purpose as to why he gave me this disease, now I fully understand his purpose. Let’s DOH it!!! End TB now!!!

Background of Leo Rey Tejares, TB Survivor of Ilo-ilo City

More videos of Leo Rey:

Leo Rey on ‘What is DSTB?’ Part 1

Leo Rey on ‘What is DSTB?’ Part 2

Leo Rey on ‘What is DSTB?’ Part 3

Leo Rey on ‘What is DSTB?’ Part 4

Leo Rey on ‘What is DSTB?’ Part 5

Leo Rey on ‘What is DRTB?’

Leo Rey on ‘What is ITR?’

Leo Rey on ‘What is BPaL Regimen?’