ARVADA, Colo. — Despite the busy atmosphere at Namiko’s Sushi Bar and Japanese Restaurant on Wednesday, an unmistakable feeling of sadness lingered in the air. Customers showed their affection for owner Namiko Eshima with warm hugs, kind words and unwavering support. It was as if they were trying to ease the pain and sorrow of the inevitable.
“All we care about is that you take care of yourself, OK?” one customer said.
When Eshima walks into her family’s restaurant, one word comes to mind: home.
“I grew up here, so it’s always been a part of my life,” Eshima said.
Eshima’s mother opened the Arvada restaurant in 1988.
“She had a rocky upbringing in Japan,” Eshima said. “It wasn’t a great time and she just wanted something stable for me. She wanted to start this restaurant so that I would have something to support my family with.”
In 2017, Eshima lost her mother to an aortic aneurysm.
“Then about 20 days later, I was diagnosed with my first round of cancer,” Eshima said. “Losing her and then having a diagnosis so quickly didn’t really give me a whole lot of time to grieve her loss.”
After a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and 31 rounds of radiation, Eshima beat breast cancer.
“I was cancer free for six years,” Eshima said. “It was good. Everything looked good. Then I got the call on a Tuesday, Nov. 7, that I had breast cancer again.”
Arvada restaurant owner says goodbye to her customers to focus on a new challenge
In December, Eshima had a double mastectomy. Now she’s preparing for chemotherapy, and the reality of it all is beginning to sink in.
“COVID did a real big number on finances here,” Eshima said. “It just got to be too much and then when I got the diagnosis, it was kind of like a switch that went off in my head that I can’t keep putting 100% of myself when I’m not 100%.”
The restaurant will be closing on Saturday. Eshima said she’s going to miss the people the most.
They’re going to miss her, too.
“A little girl and her family came in, she’s 9 years old, and she brought me back a stuffed animal that my mom had given her when she was a newborn that had belonged to me,” Eshima said. “She came in [Tuesday] night and she gave it back, and she said that she hopes that it helps with my cancer fight.”
Eshima said they caught her cancer early and her doctors are optimistic. She's ready for the battle even though it means closing the doors to a place she calls home.
“I feel like I’m letting a lot of people down, but if I don’t focus on myself, then this isn’t going to be here anyway,” she said.
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