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Dawn Keeler
Written By: Julia Brabant, September 2025Dawn Keeler Faced a “One-in-a-Million” Cancer Diagnosis with Courage, Candor
Dawn Keeler wasn’t much of a drinker, but she knew it wasn’t normal to vomit violently after a single beer. At first, she thought she might have food poisoning, but her husband, Kent, ate from the same plate of nachos she did and felt fine. When her condition worsened and pain in her abdomen accompanied the vomiting, she sought medical care, leading to a serious – and seriously rare – diagnosis.
All I heard was ‘cancer. After that, everything in the hospital – all the bells and whistles – got really loud.
Thinking the pain might be the result of a pulled muscle from all the heaving, Dawn found it difficult to go to work. Her husband urged her to visit the local clinic, where the doctor sent her straight to the hospital. It turned out Dawn was experiencing severe pancreatitis, prompting a 10-day stay.
Bored, antsy and with limited ways to keep busy, she began pacing the halls, noticing encouraging notes to cancer patients tacked up along the way. It wasn’t until one of the doctors came in and sat her down – before her husband had a chance to make it home from a trip several hours away – that she learned that she, herself, was one of those patients.
A “periampullary neuroendocrine neoplasm on the pancreas and duodenum” was Dawn’s official diagnosis and one her medical team said was “one in a million.”
“All I heard was ‘cancer,’” Dawn said. “After that, everything in the hospital – all the bells and whistles – got really loud.”
Dawn’s particular cancer was right at the head of her pancreas, and right at the point where the bile duct connects to the duodenum.
It’s so individual within your own body in terms of what you can tolerate and what you can’t. Sometimes, you can handle a particular food three or four times, and then the fifth time you try it, it becomes a problem.
She ended up at the Mayo Clinic, where they performed a Whipple procedure. The Whipple is a common treatment for some types of pancreatic cancer and involves an extensive “replumbing” of the digestive system. Dawn spent another 10 days in the hospital before heading home to continue her recovery, but doctors soon identified a softball-sized mass that required removal, prompting another lengthy hospital stay.
When Dawn returned home from the second procedure, she found herself learning to adjust to a “new normal,” with the Whipple procedure having a serious impact on how her body broke down and processed foods.
“It’s so individual within your own body in terms of what you can tolerate and what you can’t,” Dawn said, of re-learning how to fuel herself in the wake of the Whipple. “Sometimes, you can handle a particular food three or four times, and then the fifth time you try it, it becomes a problem. You also need to chew very, very well – otherwise you can feel it passing by where all the incisions took place.”
Dawn, like many people who have the Whipple procedure, also developed diabetes in the aftermath, which her husband figured out after watching Dawn struggle with digestion, lack of energy and multiple infections. It turned out she’d developed “Type 3C” diabetes, meaning it developed after her pancreas suffered damage due to disease, surgery or trauma.
Armed with this knowledge, Dawn started using a Dexcom monitor, which enables her to monitor her condition and blood sugar without having to prick her finger. That way, when her blood sugar dips, she receives a notification in real time and can promptly eat or drink something to bring it back up.
“That’s made a world of difference,” Dawn said, of adjusting to life with a Dexcom monitor. “It’s on my body and lets me know right away if anything is off.”
While the Dexcom monitor helped keep Dawn’s blood sugar stabilized, her infections continued, with Dawn trying six or seven different antibiotics to alleviate them with little success. At one point, the situation escalated into sepsis, a complication that can be dangerous, especially in someone with a weakened immune system. Her astute husband noticed the infections tended to coincide with Dawn eating mushrooms and suggested she cut them out of her diet entirely. As a form of fungi, mushrooms can carry different bacteria, and since Dawn stopped consuming them, her infections stopped, too.
Finally free from the cycle of ongoing infections, Dawn shifted her focus back to refining her diet and remaining as active as possible. She was an avid walker before her cancer diagnosis and continues to be in the aftermath. She also draws strength from meeting other people facing similar health hurdles, noting that, until she attended the Seena Magowitz Foundation’s 2025 “Power of Us” fundraiser in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that list was empty.
“There were 107 of us there! I had never met anyone who had pancreatic cancer and was alive,” Dawn said, adding that she met several survivors who’d lived 10, 20 and even 30 years with pancreatic cancer. “Living in such a remote area didn’t really afford me the opportunity to meet others; meeting other people was the best part for me.”
Dawn has also found that her diagnosis has had a significant impact on how she approaches day-to-day life and her interactions with others.
“I don’t tolerate a lot of negative energy anymore,” she said. “My time on this earth is short; I want it to be peaceful and calm. I don’t hang onto anger like I used to.”
Dawn also lost her husband earlier this year, which served as an important reminder to enjoy every moment and appreciate every connection. This experience, coupled with her own cancer journey, has given her valuable knowledge about navigating loss, dealing with change, and ultimately, learning to move forward.
She hopes that, in the future, health care workers will devote more time and attention to following up with patients after they have major surgery, noting that, in some cases, patients return home with limited, if any, follow-up instructions. She also hopes to see more of a focus on seeing a dietician when facing pancreatic cancer, as the disease and its treatments can have a serious impact on what one can and cannot consume. When asked about what advice she might have for others navigating pancreatic cancer, she injected a little humor.
“Get a bidet,” she joked.
True to form, Dawn continues to balance candor with humor; a perspective that’s helped her emotionally since day one.
“I never once thought I was going to die,” Dawn said. “People were treating me like I was going to die, but I just kept focusing on my body and how to make it better.”
Dawn continues to have regular follow-ups to keep a close eye on her condition.
