Sachiko Fujimaki

Hello, let me introduce you to Sachiko Fujimaki, or as I call her 母ちゃん (Ka-chan / Mom in Japanese). She is a mother of three kids and a grandmother to two grandkids. She lives in Japan, in a small city called Soma. She runs her family's ramen shop called Apollo with her son (my husband) after her husband became bedridden due to a stroke. Due to this not only does she run the ramen shop, take care of her family, but is also the main caregiver to her husband.

She also is an extremely sweet and funny individual. She loves to play musical instruments, especially the saxophone. Although she doesn't speak English very well, she always welcomes everyone with open arms and does her hardest to talk with them. Everyone who meets her immediately gains a friend and a mom as she always tells everyone to call her mom.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of February, she started to notice she was bleeding. Through a few tests and an emergency visit to a medical center cities away, we were all shocked to learn she was diagnosed with stage 3C cervical cancer that had also spread to her bladder and surrounding lymph nodes. Despite this, she remained as cheerful as always. Currently, due to lack of proper medical facilities in our area, she is being hospitalized in Sendai at a cancer center and being treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

While we do not know how the fight will turn out, I know she is fighting her hardest in her battle against cancer. However, this is where I am asking for help. Due to her being sick and her husband requiring care, both parents are now hospitalized, leaving her son to run the shop alone and everyone worried about her health. Since their shop is small and they are considered low income, although we are trying not to think about it, we do worry about the financial impact this will have and whether or not we will be able to afford all her medical treatments.

This is why I wanted to make a Go Fund Me. I know my family is too proud to ask for help, even when I know they need it. So I wanted to start this fundraiser to help them by lessening the financial burden on them so they do not have to worry about money and instead focusing on recovering. Although you might not know her, I know she means the world to her family and it pains me to see how much they are all worried about her.

Regardless of whether or not you donate, I appreciate the time you took to read Sachiko's story. If you do, I cannot express my gratitude enough for any and all help given to help my family through this difficult and scary time.

Thank you so much,

Nate