Ramsey Rallies Behind Store Owner After Sudden Cancer Diagnosis

RAMSEY, NJ — Gregory Delaura opened up the shop like any regular Monday, while his wife went into the emergency room with some pain in the abdomen and back. Two hours later he got a text message.

The diagnosis was devastating. Yukiko Ishii,50, who goes by Kiko, was "filled with tumors," including her liver and chest, and had a very advanced stage of cancer, Delaura told Patch.

"She's my whole world. We don't have kids, it's just the two of us," he said.

The couple opened the Japanese convenience store Tawara Mart over a year ago, right before the coronavirus pandemic hit, and have been married for 10 years. Kiko's mom is the owner of the 40-year-old Tawara Japanese Restaurant, which they help manage.

The outpouring of support from the community took Delaura by surprise. It came from the fire department chief and police department to all the customers he's seen come in for years, but never got to know. He said he's been inundated with messages, even from other parts of the world.

"I got a lot of wonderful people around me. We never realized how many people care," Delaura said. "There are three generations of people who've fallen in love at the restaurant," he added about Tawara.

Delaura launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover healthcare costs. So far, it has collected $40,000 in less than two weeks. The original goal of the campaign was $50,000, although the costs of care may be even higher than that, Delaura said.

Due to the complicated nature of her diagnosis, Kiko can't have surgery yet, he said. She was rushed to start chemotherapy right away. This Friday was her first session.

The past year has been all work for Kiko and Delaura, trying to get their new business — which they invested all of their savings into — off the ground. As with many other businesses, the pandemic made things more complicated.

"We've been working literally every day," Delaura said. "Now [Kiko's] main drive is to stay alive."