When Dawn Davis was undergoing chemotherapy treatments, a sign was hung outside her hospital room that said: “Patient resting. Please do not disturb.”

“Unless your name is Jon Bon Jovi,” Dawn had added. What started as a joke turned out to be a dream come true for this long-time fan. When her family doctor Trina Stewart saw what Dawn had written, she decided to tap into some music industry connections to get Dawn free tickets to the December 2007 concert in Toronto.

Thanks to the generosity of Trina’s friends and the band, Dawn was able to fly to Toronto and get a backstage pass to meet her rock ‘n’ roll idol. “I’ve been in love with him since I was 18 years old. That was the most amazing moment in my life,” says the now 42-year-old.

Dawn presented Bon Jovi and his band with photos of Prince Edward Island, where she’s lived since 2004. They were some of the same photos Dawn sells to raise money for Relay For Life. As a four-time survivor of cancer, raising money for The Canadian Cancer Society means a lot to this Burlington, Ontario native.

Dawn was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. When she first found the lump, Dawn wasn’t totally surprised. Her mother, her grandmother and her great-grandmother all had breast cancer. “I knew it was a possibility for me.”  Dawn had a lumpectomy. Although she was then considered cancer-free, tests showed that she was at high risk for reoccurrence.

Two years later, Dawn started having pains in her legs and was later diagnosed with bone cancer. Radiation treatments followed. Soon after, a CT scan of her abdomen showed more bad news. “The day before my birthday, I was diagnosed with liver cancer,” recalls Dawn. “Fortunately, only 10% of my liver was affected.”

In January 2005, Dawn underwent a regime of chemotherapy to treat the liver cancer. “When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I used to be more afraid of chemotherapy than the cancer. I was a single girl in my thirties; I didn’t want to lose my hair,” she explains.

But this time, “losing my hair wasn’t even an issue,” says Dawn. “I was totally fine with that.” When her hair grew back, short and spiky, Dawn had blonde highlights added. “I loved it. I had so many compliments.”

During the summer of 2006, Dawn noticed that she was frequently exhausted and had trouble speaking clearly. When she told this to her oncology nurse, more tests were ordered. Eight tumours were found in her brain. “When you’re on your fourth diagnosis, you don’t get upset anymore,” she explains. “You’re like, how can we fix this?” By the end of her radiation treatments, five tumours were gone and three had shrunk to the size of a dime. 

Today, Dawn focuses her energy on raising money for her Relay For Life team, The Hive Honeys. “Our theme is: please help take the sting out of cancer.”

Although cancer is something Dawn lives with, she’s emphatic that she won’t let it rule her life. “Don’t become your illness,” advises Dawn to those with cancer. “Live your life as if cancer didn’t exist, as if you weren’t sick.”

“I don’t think of myself as a sick person, it doesn’t define who I am. I try to live my life as normal as I can.” Except for when it comes to meeting rock stars, of course.