Cancer survivor Clifford Tardieu had a knife pulled on him, rolled a jeep without brakes down a steep hill, dived into 30-foot deep seas to rescue people, had lightning strike on a roof he was on, nearly got swept into the sky from a category five hurricane and danced with death on a hospital bed.
His last brush with danger saw him endure, and survive, several terrifying years with cancer. “This story is not meant to preach to anyone, nor is it about my beliefs or my faith being stronger than anyone else’s,” Tardieu told the T&T Guardian.
“It is simply an account of someone who is still alive today because of some great doctors, a few good hospitals, excellent nurses and the will to survive fortified by my love for my creator.” He made special mention of Dr Malcolm Samuel, Dr Kavi Capildeo and Dr Hess Benjamin.
Tardieu, of Mt Lambert, owner of Trini Tuner, which restores classic cars, was diagnosed with stage three cancer in 2011 and was told then he had a 52 per cent chance of survival.
Today, he is cancer free. The last lump he had on his neck simply vanished.
“I’m not seeing the nodes that were there two weeks ago,” the doctor told Tardieu in October 2013.
“Well I didn’t move them,” he told her in response. He recalled his horrifying experience with cancer and how it brought his business, straightening and painting cars and boats, to a halt and financially drained him to the point where he actually had to ask people for money.
The disease transformed him from a handsome, energetic man, into a frail, bald person. Tardieu said his stand as a Jehovah’s Witness also made fighting the disease a challenge because of the surgeries involved.
“Also, operating on me was always a no-no because I was born with a rare blood disorder that causes me to bleed uncontrollably if cut,” he said.
“I grew up in Diego Martin and as a young boy I would ride through St James and look inside that place they now call the National Radio Therapy Centre.
“I would stop and look in at the people seated on the rows of wooden benches and see the empty, scared look in their eyes.
“I became one of them, sitting on those same chairs looking up at people with that same look in my eyes.
“Cancer is a respecter of no one.”
As he continued treatment, Tardieu had to close down his business and sell items to pay doctors and private hospitals.
“Cancer didn’t just take away my health, it took away my freedom, my ability to provide for my family, the endless energy I once had, my joy.”
Recounting the time he needed money for surgery, he said, “My wife’s salary covered our food and rent, barely.
“I didn’t come from a family with money, and I was never the type to beg. But my life was on the line.
“We prayed so intently, so relentlessly, as a stranger pounding on a door in the middle of a storm begging to be let in. A week before the surgery I approached five people who knew me and my family for many years.
“Before I met each one I uttered a silent prayer. From those five people we received exactly the amount we needed at exactly the right time.”
After chemotherapy treatment, which saw his thick, wavy head of hair fall out and ate away his stomach’s lining, Tardieu’s odds of survival jumped to 92 per cent. One night he felt he would not make it and prayed desperately, had some coconut jelly and water and fell asleep.
“I awoke at 5.45 am and the beautiful warmth of the sun touched my cheek. I was alive.
“I walked to the back door and looked out to the field at the back of our house. The mist had settled over the grass and the birds were whistling away.
“And behind me, the comforting sounds of my wife making me a cup of tea.”
Today, Tardieu cherishes every minute of his life and devotes a lot of time to rescuing helpless animals and helping his hearing-impaired friends.
“We find homes for about 30 to 40 dogs and 20 to 40 cats and kittens a year,” he said.