After 25-year fight with cancer, Regina advocate Dionne Warner leaves lasting legacy

Dionne Warner waged war against the nine separate cancer diagnoses she had throughout her lifetime. And as the obituary she co-wrote with her husband explicitly lays out, saying that she lost her battle with the disease would be incorrect.

“Like a hockey player scoring three hat-tricks in a game, who would even care what team won, when the focus would most definitely be on that single players incredible performance!” states the obituary, posted to the Regina’s Speers funeral chapel website Tuesday morning.

Dionne died Monday “on her own terms,” according to the obituary.

As people that knew her attest, her performance was indeed incredible.

Pam Klein described her friend of more than a decade as having an infectious personality with an almost gravitational pull.

“You wanted to be around her. Like, it was just something changed in you when you were around Dionne Warner, for the better,” Klein told Global News.

Nora Yeates, CEO of the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan, knew Dionne through advocacy initiatives, and was consistently touched by Dionne’s compassion for others.

“The big thing for her was hope and faith and miracles, because she was a miracle,” said Nora Yeates, CEO of the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan.

“If you met Dionne, you never forgot her. Never,”

Dionne, from Mississisauga, Ont., had already been diagnosed with cancer twice by the time she began a relationship with the man who would become her life partner in the late 1990s.

Graham Warner told Global News in 2015 that he proposed to his wife on the third date.

“Meeting her made me realize I don’t want to live life with regrets,” he said back then.

In that same 2015 interview, reflecting back on the grim prognoses early in their relationship (Dionne received her third cancer diagnoses just months after moving to Regina in 2000), she said her husband-to-be “didn’t even waiver and we weren’t even married yet.”

While six more different cancer diagnoses followed over the next 20 years, the couple faced the challenges head-on with openness and positivity. They became popular for the costumes they wore to her treatments over the years — a way to spread joy to fellow patients.

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Klein was still grappling with her own breast cancer treatments 12 years ago when she heard about a woman selling pink-themed memorabilia to fundraise for cancer patients in the community. Compelled, she popped by the shop that Dionne had set up and the two got to talking. The rest is history.

When Klein started the Power of Pink, she said her friend contributed substantially to fundraising and awareness efforts.

“Dionne was always an avid supporter,” Klein said. “She was a supporter of community regardless of the initiative.”

Yeates echoes the sentiment, adding that Dionne’s dedication to those around her was astounding given that she was often unwell herself.

“When you hear the word Dionne Warner and you hear about the fight she had with cancer, yes she had a fight with cancer, but you know what, she was all about advocacy as well,” Yeates said.

Dionne, who battled breast, liver, lung and brain cancer over the years, was active in promoting prevention and early detection.

“What she did was bring awareness to the fact that no matter what type of cancer you have, we’re all in this together and we all support each other. And never, never, never, stop fighting. Never stop living,” Yeates said. “Never stop enjoying your life and the people who love you.”

In 2010, Dionne was honoured with the Community Leadership Woman of Distinction award for her volunteer work at the Allan Blair Cancer Canter. She was named one of 32 International Heroes of Hope by the America Cancer Society the follwing year and one of 25 Heritage Heroes by the Look Good Feel Better program in 2017.

While many people loved Dionne, maximizing her time with her husband Graham was a priority. Klein describes their story, much of which is chronicled in the book Never Leave Your Wingman, as aspirational.

“They went through a lot together and certainly, their relationship and their love is renowned,” Klein said.

In 2015, Graham, who runs a commercial towing service, presented his wife with a hot pink tow truck decorated in tribute to her lifetime of resiliency.

He told Global News at the time that it symbolizes “things are going to be better down the road.”

The couple and their tow truck were staples at cancer fundraising and awareness events in recent years.

“They were so inclusive of their joy,” marvelled Klein, who described her friendship with Dionne as “a blessing.”

Yeates, no stranger to seeing the truck in the community, noted how it reflected Dionne’s desire to help others on their own journeys.

“Dionne was a beautiful person inside and out. Absolutely beautiful,” Yeates said.

“She credited so much to Graham, to her friends, to the community she lived in for the support.”

In the obituary, Graham noted how the couple “lived life to the fullest.” It makes special note of Dionne’s desire that he continue on that way.

“To my Wingman G, you will always be my forever love, the light of life. I was blessed, honoured and so grateful to have had your love,” she added.