WYTHEVILLE, Va. – Janessa Obrien knew something was wrong. She was 11 months postpartum, feeling dizzy and off, and she had her baby strapped to her chest when she finally went to the emergency room. The diagnosis came fast.
“Immediately, the nurse had said, you know, something’s wrong and we think it’s leukemia,” Obrien said. “It was scary too, because I have four little kids and a small business. And it was a lot all at once.”
Community showed up
What followed was a wave of support Obrien said she did not expect. Phone calls flooded in. Neighbors arrived at her door with meals, gifts and donations. Women in the community even brought breast milk for her baby.
“People just showed up for me — hundreds of people,” she said. “They’ve shown up for my family.”
That outpouring never left her mind.
A dream deferred, then decided
Obrien had been thinking about opening an indoor playground for more than two years before her diagnosis. She just hadn’t found the push to do it.
Then leukemia gave her one.
“It was a breaking point for me,” she said. “It really showed me that if you don’t accomplish your dreams now, or at least strive for them, then they might not ever happen.”
Now, Obrien is opening The Little Village Playground, an indoor play space and cafe for young children and families, on Wytheville’s Main Street — recently named the best in the country by the Great American Main Street Awards.
She is targeting Aug. 16 for a soft launch — the one-year anniversary of her leukemia diagnosis, she said.
‘I have dreamt of having a business on Main Street’
For Obrien, the location is personal. She said no Main Street she had lived near in the United States ever felt like this one.
“We have so many events that are geared towards families and children on Main Street, and we have enjoyed them,” she said. “We feel welcomed and at home, and I cannot wait to be in the parades and to have our doors open right here on Main Street during the events.”
She hopes The Little Village becomes a place where mothers and families feel the same kind of support she did when she needed it most.
“When you’re building something that you care about and you love, you want other people to enjoy it too,” Obrien said, her voice breaking. “I know that I will get to show up for my community the way they showed up for me. It’s changed my life.”
Her health today
Obrien’s form of leukemia is in deep molecular remission, which means it is a lifelong diagnosis. Since her diagnosis, the percentage of cancer cells in her body has dropped from 97% to just over 20%. Her goal is to be under 1% by October.