Action to success.

It's a phrase Sandra Luty-Craib uses in her e-mail address, as the name of a series of books she's writing and, most important, as a philosophy for her life.

And life couldn't be more action-packed for the single mom of two boys as she prepares to open her new business in Stittsville. The Moo Zoo, which will open later this month, is the first children's play centre in the west end, and the only one in Ottawa aimed at children newborn to seven  years old.

Sandra Luty-Craib opens The Moo Zoo later this month. She says she saw the need for the Stittsville business first-hand, when she and many of her friends got tired of ferrying their children to play centres in central Ottawa.

Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen

Ms. Luty-Craib's path to entrepreneurial success began at a young age.

"Young being under 10," she says. "My mom got me growing pumpkins and I would sell them on our front lawn at Halloween."

Whether it was running her own T-shirt silk screening business at the age of 15 (Lesson learned: your best friends don't always make the best employees) or launching Nerds on Site in Ottawa; taking it from two technicians (her and her husband) in 2001 to more than 50 today (Lesson learned: expect to work 22-hour days when starting a new business), Ms. Luty-Craib has tried to learn from every opportunity that's come her way.

"The biggest failure is not trying," she says. "You learn so much when you try different things and I guess I don't have any fear -- that's what holds a lot of people back."

Action is something you feel just talking to Ms. Luty-Craib.

It's hard to believe she's accomplished all she has by the age of 36, and even more difficult considering some of the personal challenges she's faced along the way.

When Ms. Luty-Craib and her husband decided to quit their jobs and launch Nerds on Site, the two were newlyweds and, along with a successful business, they also wanted children.

"I went in for a complete physical because we'd discussed planning a family," she says. "The doctor called us in and told us about these cancer cells they'd found."

The adenocarcinoma cells were on her cervix and uterus, and while she downplays the seriousness of her illness, her treatment required many surgeries. With each operation, her doctor asked if she still wanted to have children, and each time, she recalls, she burst into tears and answered yes.

The doctors did their best to preserve her fertility but, finally, they reached a critical point.

"They said, 'OK, if you're going to have a baby, we can't do any more surgeries so go ahead and try.' " Ms. Luty-Craib says.

She became pregnant with Tyson, now three, almost immediately and shortly after he was born began planning for a hysterectomy. Two weeks before her hysterectomy consultation, when Tyson was just 10 months old, Luty-Craib learned she was pregnant with Matthew.

When Matthew was born in May 2005, Ms. Luty-Craib had been married for less than four years.

In addition to her cancer diagnosis, several surgeries and giving birth to two children, she was still running Nerds on Site with her husband and, because she was self-employed, receiving no maternity leave.

There were more challenges to come.

Only a week before her hysterectomy, when Matthew was just six months old, her father had major heart surgery and, just a few weeks afterwards, her mother-in-law died following an unexpected illness.

The pressure was too much for her marriage and she and her husband split up.

At a point when many people might decide they needed a vacation, Ms. Luty-Craib decided she needed to start her own business.

"I thought, 'I'm a single mom now and I have a family to support and I better pull my stuff together and look after my family," she says.

She had dozens of ideas for businesses, but the Moo Zoo was at the forefront.

She was tired of driving her own children 40 minutes from her home in Stittsville across the city to the nearest children's play centre, and she knew she wasn't alone.

"You hear: 'Someone should open a play centre in the west end,' five or six hundred times and you say: 'Well, OK.' "

Parents said they wanted a clean space where they could relax and where their small children wouldn't be overwhelmed by loud noises and bigger children.

Ms. Luty-Craib promises the play structures and activities specifically designed for the younger clientele of the Moo Zoo, at 1300 Main St. in Stittsville ( www.themoozoo.com  ), will be spotlessly clean and she's sure parents will enjoy the lounge with its plasma television that will be tuned to sports each Wednesday for Dads' Night.

Ms. Luty-Craib says she's been overwhelmed with the support that's come from her parents, brothers and friends. Her bank manager understood when she showed up to meetings with a sick two-year-old in tow.

Even Tyson pitched in, supplying her with the tagline for the business when a family friend asked: "What's the Moo Zoo?" and he replied, "It's where we play."

She's positive she's going to get as much from the Moo Zoo as its patrons.

"I built a place I would enjoy going to with my kids."