Julie Vega, 16 Yrs Old

(May 21, 1968 – May 6, 1985), was a Filipina child actress and singer. She remains popular and well-loved in the Philippines, years after her sudden death at the age of 16 triggered a massive outpouring of nationwide grief that is still vividly remembered by Filipino showbiz fans.  She won two FAMAS Awards for Best Child Actress during her brief showbiz career.

Not long after her high school graduation in 1985, Vega began complaining of extreme weakness and lack of sensation, particularly on her lower body. This prompted her parents to bring her to a private hospital for diagnosis and treatment. She was later diagnosed with a form of demyelinating disease, which was highly suspected to be either Guillain-Barré syndrome or multiple sclerosis. As Vega’s condition became worse, her parents were forced to have her confined to the Quezon Institute as they could no longer afford the increasing amount of her hospital bills. Sometime after her confinement there, she contracted bronchopneumonia, making her condition even worse than before.

Vega was transferred to the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City at about 5:00 p.m on May 6, 1985 where she died suddenly and peacefully around 90 minutes later at the hospital’s intensive care unit, just 15 days shy of her 17th birthday. Her cause of death was officially listed as cardiac arrest secondary to bronchopneumonia. Her untimely death left Anna Liza with an incomplete storyline and the Filipino people in total shock. After lying in state at Mount Carmel Church in Quezon City, her body was laid to rest right next to her brother’s grave at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City in a funeral attended by countless of grieving fans and colleagues from Philippine showbiz.

She will surely be missed.