A banner asking for prayers and support for a woman battling cancer is at the center of a dispute between a New Jersey pediatric nurse and her landlord — which has led to the city not only stepping in, but taking sides.
For Janelle Green, home is where the heart is, but it's also where some of life's toughest battles are fought.
"I'm undergoing chemotherapy, double mastectomy next month and reconstruction," she said.
As she battles late stage breast cancer, she also found another battle — which was sparked by a simple banner she hung outside her home.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
"It said "Stop and Say a Prayer, A Person Battling Cancer Lives Here," Green said.
A local Bayonne restaurant heard about her illness, and made the banner to lift her spirits. Green hung it on the railing in front of her home, bringing well wishes from neighbors who would come by and see how she was doing.
But not everyone was on board with the sign, apparently. Green said that she received a text message from her landlord on Sunday that told her to take it down.
News
"I came by the apt today, I assume you put up that banner on the front steps. Please take it down when u can," the landlord wrote.
Green responded with two simple messages: "Ok" and "That lack of compassion is very telling."
Green took the sign down, and took to TikTok, where she posted a video of her taking it down and voicing her opinion on the matter. That video gained her 200,000 followers, as well as the attention of Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis.
Davis met with Green, and took her banner to hang it on another railing: right in front of city hall.
"It may be that one little thing that she had out there that maybe made her feel good," Davis said. "I said now you have 72,000 people who are going to work and stand with you."
They mayor said the banner will be in front of city hall "until she rings her bell," referring to the bell that is rung by cancer patients at the end of their treatment.
Green's landlord did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment on the matter.
