Living in the now: Chef of popular Thai spot in downtown Macon shares his cancer story

Saravudh Sarrtsud, affectionately known as Chef Tom, has learned to live in the now.

Battling stage 4 lung cancer, Sarrtsud and his wife, Laddavan, made the painful decision to close Ladda Bistro in downtown Macon following his unexpected diagnosis in March.

The couple ran the popular Thai restaurant at 442 Cherry St. with their daughter, Jiin Sarrtsud.

They are currently selling off assets, including the restaurant’s equipment and furnishings as well as a rental home and their former Ladda Thai location, both in Warner Robins.

The move allows the family to spend more time together, to strengthen their financial position by liquidating assets and the cares and worries that go along with them and for Sarrtsud to concentrate on his health.

One day at a time

A native of Bangkok, Sarrtsud, who celebrated his 60th birthday in May, said he now takes life day by day.

“I try to do the best I can,” said Sarrtsud, who is currently undergoing immunotherapy. “In the morning, I walk around the neighborhood to get going, and I don’t think about it too much. I learn how to separate it a little bit — between everyday life and my illness — and not to put together.”

He remains positive.

“Like I tell people, people get their life taken away without warning,” Sarrtsud said. “A lot of people get in accidents. Whatever happens to them, they have no chance.

“I have some chance to fight for my life. I will do the best I can to fight every day.”

Talking with others with similar health problems has helped.

Sarrtsud also believes his decision two years ago to improve his lifestyle by exercising and changing his diet prepared him for what he’s now facing.

He stopped eating fried foods, cut carbs and lost 35 pounds. As a result, he no longer needs to take blood pressure medication.

“What I try to do every day is to not worry what may happen,” Sarrtsud said. “I don’t dream too big. But whatever comes, I take.”

He also doesn’t dwell on the past.

“People say, ‘You have lung cancer, did you smoke?’ I smoke when I was 18. You want me to go back and fix it? It doesn’t matter anyway.”

When he first received the diagnosis, Sarrtsud said he was gripped with fear. But as he learned to live in the moment, those feelings fled.

“Those feelings of fear.... I remember the day I was told you have terminal lung cancer and I don’t know how much longer you have … That feeling never happens (now),” Sarrtsud said.

He works to control his emotions..

“I don’t let myself get upset … If I get upset at you in this moment, you don’t feel it,” he said. “I feel the whole thing because I get upset with you.

“So I don’t get upset. It’s wasting my time to get upset with people.”

Becoming a chef

When he was 25, Sarrtsud’s mom, who immigrated to the U.S. ahead of him, came back to Thailand and brought him to New York City.

He lived in Astoria, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, for about 13 years.

“When I was in New York, I started working at a small restaurant,” Sarrtsud said. “Then I worked in a 5 star hotel — learn how to be prepping person, learn how to cook — from the bottom to the top, that’s when I learned to be a chef.”

In January 1984, he and Laddavan wed. They had met years earlier in Thailand and later reconnected.

They have three children. Their two girls were born in New York before the family moved to Warner Robins in 2002. Their son was born here.

Wanting a change of pace, Sarrtsud said he wanted to live in a smaller city. His father had served in the Royal Thai Air Force in Thailand. Living near Robins Air Force Base felt “closer to home.”

In 2003, he and his wife opened and operated Ladda Thai at 1746 Watson Blvd. in Warner Robins. They closed that restaurant in 2010 after their business partner opened the Lemongrass at 442 Cherry St. in downtown Macon in 2009.

In 2015, their business partner decided to do something different and they took sole ownership and changed the name to Ladda Bistro. They celebrated the grand opening of Ladda Bistro in December 2016 with a redesigned dining area that could seat more people.

The restaurant is located next to Theatre Macon.

A family business

His wife, Laddavan, is the consummate Thai chef — having learned how to cook traditional Thai food when she was young from her grandparents and parents.

She came up with all their restaurant recipes.

Sarrtsud was trained as an international chef, able to make all kinds of dishes on request.

“We worked together,” Sarrtsud said. “She comes up with all the recipes and the dishes and then I make it a commercial look.”

Their daughter, Jiin, was responsible for the front of the restaurant. She greeted and served customers, answered the phone, those type of duties.

“The biggest part of our restaurant was that we cooked as if we would eat it,” she said. “I feel like some places Americanize their food. But my parents were very big on it being consistent and being like how they eat it.”

But Ladda Bistro wasn’t just known for its authentic Thai cuisine.

On Saturday and Sunday, the restaurant offered up a buffet of French toast, chicken and waffles and “all kinds of different things.”

“People loved it,” Sarrtsud said. “Our brunch was like crazy every weekend.”

Sarrtsud still works for the Houston County Board of Education serving food to students when school is in session. He took sick leave before school was out for the summer.

Their eldest daughter, Rati Zoller, also works in food services for Houston County schools and lives in Kathleen.

Their son, Madhee Sarrtsud, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, lives in Savannah.

“Now we stay home together and my sisters, my kids come and spend time together sometimes,” Sarrtsud said. “A big family who’s supporting me — more love from the family.”

He’s also experienced an outpouring of support from the community.

“Somebody set up a GoFundMe account for me and I have a lot of help because of that fund. I have a lot of people call and give me support.”

Creating memories

Jiin Sarrtsud also is learning to live in the now.

She’s working at a friend of the family’s Thai and sushi restaurant, KIN.D96, at 1057 Ga. 96 in Warner Robins, to keep her mind focused and give her a sense of normalcy.

“I’m just taking it day by day just because that’s all I can do,” she said. “I mean, nowadays, we don’t know what to expect in the future and we can’t sit here and linger on it.

“We just have to live each day as they come and keep creating memories and making the best of what we have. I feel like some days are harder than other days, but that’s with everybody. You just gotta keep pushing along.”