MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (WXYZ) — A downtown Mount Clemens restaurant is back open for the first time in nearly a month after the owner and head chef faced multiple health scares.
Buchanan’s Best Bistro officially reopened on Tuesday. The family said they thought they were in real danger of possibly closing for good.
Watch the video report below:
"Definitely had days where we were like, don't know if we're gonna keep it open, or we're gonna start selling stuff," Timothy Buchanan said.
The business, led by Timothy's father, Kenard Buchanan, was closed for much of March. Before the closure, Timothy was running the restaurant alone.
"I was working by myself, cooking and taking orders," Timothy Buchanan said.
Two years ago, Kenard Buchanan was diagnosed with kidney failure. A screening process also revealed he had prostate cancer. Despite the diagnosis, the family left their food truck business last April to open their dream restaurant.
"Even on dialysis Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I still came here. Certain days, kinda real, real hard. Had my chair in the back. Every now and then, I would sit down, let my son do the cooking," Kenard Buchanan said.
In early March, Kenard Buchanan received life-saving news.
"Was getting out of church service and got a phone call, asked me if I was interested in having a kidney. They had one for me," Kenard Buchanan said.
"Two or three times, we went down and it wasn't for him. So when it finally was, we were just overjoyed," Timothy Buchanan said.
The restaurant posted on Facebook that it would need $7,500 to help cover business expenses and medical costs.
"We just said let's see what we can do to help," Donna Isbell said.
Isbell, the treasurer of MIP Michigan, a Mount Clemens-based nonprofit, went straight to a nearby downtown business, Abibo. On Saturday, Abibos hosted a 50/50 raffle for the family, raising nearly $900 in just one night.
"What can we do, what can we do for them — 50/50 is... a lot of people support that because they're getting something out of that too," Isbell said.
Dickweeds, a Mount Clemens bar, is hosting another 50/50 raffle this Friday. Kenard Buchanan says he is grateful for the kindness of total strangers.
"Yes, a lot of people that I don't know. I don't even know if they even knew me because I haven't been here not even a year yet," Kenard Buchanan said. "When you treat people right, they treat you back right."
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