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Mervyn
Telfer (in suit) comforts his granddaughter Nkeisha, as
she caresses the body of her three-year-old daughter, Aleisha,
at St Mary’s RC Church, St James, yesterday. Next to
Telfer is Aleisha’s father, Wendell Duncan. Photo:
Anthony Harris
BY
SANDRA CHOUTHI
Three-year-old Aleisha Nkeisha Telfer loved Barney.
And the Barney song.
She so loved Barney that when I Love You played, she’d
open her arms and hug whoever was around. Her family often
replayed the song so they could get another hug.
Jub jub was her favourite snack.
When she was born on May 4, 2004, Rachel Telfer thought
she was the only aunt in the world, she so doted on the
bright-eyed little girl.
Aleisha also loved animals. She’d run behind them.
She became sick the day before her second birthday.
She died on May 17 at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences
Complex, Mt Hope, 13 days after she turned three.
She passed away almost 14 months after being diagnosed with
embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma—cancer of the stomach.
Aleisha was the daughter of Nkeisha Telfer and Wendell Duncan
and granddaughter of Martin and Elizabeth Telfer and Patsy
Duncan. She was the great-granddaughter of communications
specialist Mervyn, and Janice Telfer.
Aleisha felt sad when she couldn’t play with other
children, but she played even when she was in pain.
Little Aleisha and her aunt used to play “dolly house”
together. That was their special time.
To her family, Aleisha was a brave little soldier.
She took her medication like a little lion.
Aleisha’s mother Nkeisha, tears flowing, caressed her
daughter’s face in the pristine white coffin at the
entrance of St Mary’s RC Church in St James yesterday.
The mid-afternoon sunlight streamed in. A carnation wreath
lay at the end of coffin, above her feet. A fuchsia Barney
was placed on her tiny body.
In her eulogy, Telfer said she always knew her daughter
was an angel.
“She
was a loving and kind little girl who would always say ‘thank
you.’ She would say ‘love you’ any time of
the day for no reason,” Nkeisha said.
“She
would sing songs that brought joy to her and say, ‘thank
you, Jesus.’ She always knew Jesus. She always used
to talk about Jesus and what He would do for her.”
No more chemo.
No more doctors.
No more noise.
“No
more, but peace,” Telfer said.
She was sorry she couldn’t take away her daughter’s
pain.
“Aleisha,
I want to say sorry; sorry you didn’t get to attend
school; sorry for the little pain you had that I couldn’t
stop.”
Telfer also thanked her daughter for making her see life
more abundantly.
As Telfer wished that she rests in peace, a child’s
playful cry rang out.
She asked friends and loved ones in the church to sing with
her the song Aleisha loved so much, the Barney song, I Love
You.
Great-granddaddy Mervyn Telfer’s feelings were expressed
in thanks. He thanked oncologist Dr Kurt Bodkin for going
beyond the call of duty for the girl.
He thanked Health Minister John Rahael for twice helping
to finance the family’s trips to Caracas, Venezuela.
Mervyn said in the early days of his marriage to Janice,
they lost three babies to miscarriages.
“It
was traumatic,” he said.
“I
prayed for many years that God would spare us the trauma
of losing any more. And he answered those prayers. But he
skipped two generations and took Aleisha,” he said
tearfully.
He paid tribute to Aleisha’s father.
“In
T&T today and for many years past, it has been fashionable
for men to father children and disappear. I want to pay
tribute to Aleisha’s father, Wendell Duncan.
“He
has been there for his children and for Nkeisha.”
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