HALIFAX -- A Cape Breton entrepreneur has overcome layers of adversity to get her dream business rolling.
Tracy Stubbard is battling cancer, and still managed to launch a niche company during COVID-19, which is no easy feat.
"Tracey’s Rolling Yarn Shop", as the name suggests, is wool on wheels. It opened on Feb. 15, selling wool for everything from sweaters to socks.
Already, she’s gotten a tremendous amount of support from customers and other businesses alike.
"It’s a steady flow," says Stubbard. "There's been lots of interest on Facebook."
Though she’s technically in business, the rolling shop hasn’t hit the roads just yet.
"I’ve been working on it off and on, trying to get it all ready," she says. "I was looking at starting last summer, but I had to start chemotherapy again."
As if starting a business during a pandemic wasn't hard enough, Stubbard is also fighting cancer.
She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2017, and the disease came back last summer.
Stubbard says she stays busy operating her business between radiation treatments -- and loves it. (Photo: Ryan MacDonald/CTV News)
These days, she's undergoing radiation treatments while getting her mobile shop off the ground.
"I was on Canada Pension Disability, because I really couldn’t work with having so many treatments," she says. "So, this will be my primary income."
Inside the mobile shop, customers are greeted with yarn in every colour of the rainbow.
For now, only three people are allowed inside, but Stubbard says once the shop gets mobile, the back door can be dropped down, making room for more.
With the warmer weather, Stubbard says she can’t wait to get rolling.
"I’ll travel all over Cape Breton," she says. "And possibly as far as Antigonish, we’ve got a group in Antigonish that would really like me to come up."
For now, she’s immersed in the experience.
"I absolutely love it," she says. "Without it, I don’t know where I’d be."
With spring in the air, Stubbard has plenty of optimism both for her business and health.
"I’m not gonna let it bring me down," she says. "I can’t. That’s what’ll kill you."
Stubbard finished with profound advice: "I always say, ‘I may have cancer, but it doesn’t have me."
