Business owners in Manotick are struggling to cope after a Sunday morning fire left the shops charred and beyond repair. 

The commercial fire on Manotick Main Street happened around 4:30 a.m. Sunday and caused an estimated $1 million in damages.  V's Cupcakes, Tops Pizza, the Manotick Village Butcher, and the engineering consulting firm EBA were damaged in the blaze.

The owner of V's Cupcakes said she is heartbroken to know the shop she built from the ground up is gone. 

"It means a lot to me," said Veronique Ayling."I put my life into here. I spend more hours here than in my own house. It kept me alive, and it means everything."  

Ayling started her baking business three years ago after a long, hard battle with Lyme Disease. For 15 years Ayling was a soldier, military fitness trainer and cross fit addict. But in August of 2012, she began feeling dizzy, weak and fatigued to the point where she felt it necessary to leave her army career behind. After numerous hospital and doctors' visits, Ayling was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in the Winter of 2013.

"Lyme Disease did not kill me," she said. "I'm still here so I don't think this is going to stop me. It will slow me down, but we will find a way to keep going."

Ayling said she will rebuild the store, the question now is when, where and how.

For now, she is turning her attention to her annual Lyme Disease fundraiser, the "Take a bit out of Lyme Disease Challenge." The event, which challenges customers to take photo of themselves biting a sour lime, has raised thousands of dollars for Lyme Disease sufferers. 

"The first year I helped a girl named Paige," she said. "So even though I cannot afford my own medication, I still help other people with greater needs than me."

Ayling said the fundraiser has been postponed indefinitely. Although all of her supplies, equipment and nut-free space have been destroyed, Ayling is still hopeful the event will happen at a later date. 

The owner of the Manotick Village Butcher took to Facebook Sunday saying his store will be closed indefinitely.

"We'll be closed for a while. Fire in the building destroyed everything," the owners wrote on Facebook.

So far there is no word on what caused the fire. Nobody was injured and the Office of Fire Marshal is investigating.