When people think cancer, they often think about the battle.

Intensely physical and devastatingly personal, certain diagnoses require human beings to fight like hell for the very right to remain tethered to this earth.

For Dawn Dills, there is another level to fight. Combating her heartbreak at her diminishing ability to show up for others, to be the ultimate support system.

“She never complains,” said Mary Parton, Dawn Dills’ sister and closest companion. “She’s always more worried about the people around her than herself.”

In September of last year, Dawn — single mother and devoted health care worker — was diagnosed with stage three invasive ductal carcinoma. So, while she adjusts to an unimaginable pace of life, settling in for the long fight, The Warrior’s Way Cancer Fund, and its committed community, is rallying around Dawn to support her in her battle.

Dawn Dills has spent her entire career in health care, devoting her life to watching over others during their most difficult moments since the day she graduated high school.  

She began her journey as an aide at a local nursing home but was quickly offered the opportunity to get her CNA by the director of the facility.

“I guess because I got along so well with the residents, she offered to let me work there for a year and she would pay for my certification,” said Dawn. “I went on to do that and just really enjoyed it.”

Dawn would go on to work with children and the elderly for the majority of her career.

“Children and elderly people are always very brutally honest, so a lot of people can’t stand to work with that, but that’s what I love,” Dawn said. “If you’re having an ugly day, they’ll tell you. If you’re having a pretty day, they’ll tell you. Once you get used to it, it’s just like a big family.”

Her time in the health care industry has taught Dawn that one of the more important aspects of the profession is the personal side, the social emotional care that can transform someone’s experience — Easter baskets for kids, remembering a birthday, treats for patients with particular dietary needs.

“A few extra little things like that really make a big difference in health care, as far as when you’re in a hospital and then people treat you like family, or people think of you,” Dawn said.

Dawn’s sister Mary has witnessed firsthand the impact that Dawn has on her patients.

“She truly takes these people into her heart, she worries about them, she cries for them,” Mary said. “It’s not just a job. This is something that her heart was called to, and she really loves all people. That shines through.”

Hers is the type of care that has a lasting impact.

“She will run into people in the store that she took care of their kid 20 years ago and the parents remember her because of those little things that she did,” Mary says. “If it was Christmas time, those kids got something for Christmas. If they were in the hospital, it was Easter, they got an Easter basket. She’s the one who always led that.”

Even her own personal struggles didn’t keep her from working in service to others.

Since she was a child, Dawn has always had difficulty hearing. At 22 she started to need the assistance of hearing aids, which helped improve the condition for about 10 years. But at that point, Dawn could no longer register high pitched noises and she resigned to the fact that she could no longer work in the hospital setting, where alarms, breath sounds, and other subtle auditory signals can mean the difference between life and death.

But this didn’t keep her from her chosen profession. Instead, Dawn transitioned into working with the elderly in long term care facilities.

“The elderly, they’re a little more forgiving, sometimes, with the hearing loss,” said Dawn.

With about 20% hearing in her right ear and 36% hearing in her left ear, Dawn has become proficient at reading lips over the years.

“That’s been a little bit of a struggle,” Dawn said. “I have to try very hard to find different ways of communicating, different people to rely on just to get through the day to day with regular stuff.”  

Back in September Dawn felt something like marble in her breast tissue and knew immediately that she needed to have it checked out.

“My family has a history of breast cancer, various cancers,” said Dawn. “It had been a while since I had a mammogram and it was a little difficult for me because when I would do breast exams, I have very fibrous tissue, which makes it very hard to detect. Even if I were to do to a mammogram, sometimes they would have to do a diagnostic just because of the fibrous tissue.”

Because Dawn has already found a lump, doctors wanted to schedule a more intensive test than a routine mammogram. There was some back and forth in scheduling and all in all it took about three or four weeks before she could get the actual tests done. 

“In that time, I found a second lump,” said Dawn.

She got the ultrasound; she got the biopsy. When tests came back, doctors told Dawn she had stage three invasive ductal carcinoma.

Because it was invasive, doctors told Dawn she would not be a candidate for a lumpectomy; the cancer had already spread throughout the breast tissue.

By December, she had undergone a bilateral mastectomy, at which point the marble-sized tumor had branched into several tumors. When removed from her body, the mass was about the size of an orange.

“It had just rapidly grown together,” Dawn said. “Then in the meantime, while all of this was taking place, in my PET scan they found some places in my thyroid. Because breast cancer typically spreads to bone, they thought it was a whole separate cancer. While I was dealing with breast cancer stuff, we’re also having to see other doctors for possible thyroid cancer.”

Dawn underwent more ultrasounds and biopsies for the thyroid. And while doctors found cancer in Dawn’s throat, the decision was made to put that issue aside for one year in order to first address the aggressive breast cancer.

“They basically said that this other cancer is so aggressive and so fast moving, this other one’s going to basically be put to the side, that it will be ok until we deal with the breast cancer,” Dawn said.

After the double mastectomy Dawn came home from the hospital with four drains. Her sensitive skin reacted negatively to the paper tape, and she developed giant water blisters from the post-surgery bandages that have left severe scarring. The openings for the drains became infected and created problems of their own.

But by mid-January Dawn had gotten past all the complications and was ready to start chemotherapy.

“I’m doing something called Red Devil,” Dawn said. “They say it’s the harshest treatment that you can have, but because of my age, the aggressiveness of the cancer, how quickly it spread, because of all of those things they wanted to do the harshest treatment that they could.”

Doctors felt that Dawn would be able to handle it. So, every other week, on Wednesdays, she goes for an infusion that lasts about two and a half hours. And 24 hours later, she goes back for an injection which is intended to help white blood cell production in her bone marrow.

Chemotherapy is known to cause side effects like hair loss, increased risk of infection, nausea and vomiting in most cancer patients, depending on the dose applied. But one particular drug, doxorubicin, is so powerful and produces such intense side effects, that it received the nickname “red devil chemo.”

Bright red in color, red devil chemo is used to treat cancers that have become metastatic, meaning they are spreading to other parts of the body.

“She’s a tough woman for sure, to be able to handle it as beautifully as she is,” said Mary, who has been by her sister’s side throughout the whole process.

As of Feb. 13, Dawn has two doses remaining of her red devil chemo. Just about a week prior, her hair had fallen out.

“They told me that it would probably be three or four days, because it was such an aggressive chemo, but it probably took a week and a half before it started falling out,” Dawn said. “Then it just started coming out in big clumps, so I just had to go ahead and shave it.”

Most of 2025 will involve aggressive cancer treatment for Dawn, after which time she will be due for another ultrasound for her thyroid.

“I’m a little anemic right now, which is expected,” said Dawn. “But if everything stays like it’s supposed to, then I’ll have a six-week break and then I’ll start radiation after that.”

But time is notorious for being merciless and life continues to press on, refusing to stand still amidst Dawn’s battle.

“My son, my sweet, sweet boy, my only child, Grayson is getting ready to graduate high school. So of course, we’ve got all the cap and gown stuff going on. We’ve got his next step, what he’s doing after school,” she said. “All of those things, everything combined is just a whirlwind right now.”

Dawn’s son is involved with FFA and on the shooting team at school, regularly traveling for tournaments, moments that Dawn is refusing to miss out on.

“I’ve always been there, no matter what, no matter what the situation, no matter what has happened in life. I’ve always been there,” she said. “So, it’s really going to be devastating to me if I cannot make it to these things. This is his senior year. Even if he doesn’t want me there, I have to be there. That’s my baby and I have to watch him, I have to make sure that he does good; I have to cheer and embarrass him and scream about how good he’s doing.”

No matter how hard she fights, no matter the outcome, Dawn knows that some things will never be the same.

“I’ve always been a religious person,” Dawn says. “But if you’ve ever worked in healthcare, then sometimes it’s very easy to not behave like a religious person. Just because you see so many terrible, terrible things. You’re literally going from one room to the next. Sometimes from one death to the next. Sometimes it could be an infant that has just passed away, somebody’s husband, somebody’s wife. It helps you to get a hard outer shell.”

Being forced to step away from the workplace, being forced to focus on her own wellbeing and fighting her own battle against cancer, Dawn has found a renewed sense of faith. A renewed understanding that everything is happening in God’s time.

“People have already said, ‘how are you getting through this?’ and it’s 100% my faith,” said Dawn. “It’s prayers, it’s Jesus 100%. There’s no question about it. That has opened up a whole realm.”

Not only has Dawn felt a renewed clarity in her own faith, but also in her interactions with others.

“That’s the thing, had this not happened, you wouldn’t have had those opportunities for those faith-based conversations,” said Mary. “We’ve talked a lot about, amongst ourselves, just the way things have unfolded. God ordered everything.”

Going forward, Dawn says she hopes that she can get back to the point where she can work and feel like a productive member of society again.

“But the biggest thing moving forward is I just hope that I can maintain this level of faith, this level of trust in the Lord,” Dawn said. “I’ve always had it, but normally I would just be worried. I would be wondering what I'm going to do with my kid. What happens if I'm not here? Who’s going to take care of him? And those are still thoughts, but I 100% believe, even if I’m not here in a few months, I 100% believe that God has it lined up to where my son is taken care of, that he will have everything that he needs, and that he will remember the love that I’ve had for him.”

The world will always need more time with Dawn — her patients, her family, and each life that all of those who have been touched by her grace go on to empower in their own lives. The world has always needed more of that.