Remembering Dawn

The world lost a warm, gentle, beautiful soul this past Saturday.

Dawn Faust Bibby, two-time cancer survivor, lost her third battle with it at 7:15 AM, August 6. She was taken from us far too soon; she easily had another 30 years in her of giving love, kindness and joy back to the world. Dawn was an extremely positive person, and if you don't know who she is, then I encourage you to visit her Facebook page to see what kind of things are being said about her. It's safe to say that a woman like her deserved her own fan club, and I'm pleased to see that she has one.

She died with grace, courage, and dignity, surrounded by loved ones who were able to say goodbye to her before she passed. That closure is something that not many people get, but her time in hospice gave her family nearly a week to make their peace with her passing. She even determined she was not going to die on her brother's birthday, and by God, she kept her promise.

This generosity and self-sacrifice was completely in keeping with her nature. Dawn was an amazing woman: she welcomed me into her home when I was having an anxiety attack about my appearance; she accepted me in all my weirdness, and encouraged me to be myself despite what others thought of me; and by being comfortable around me, she helped me to become more comfortable in my own skin. She would dismiss that as a nothing gesture, but I can never consider anything which takes my feelings into account as trivial. I'll never be able to pay back all that she's done for me, even though I know she'd wave her hand and say I had nothing to repay.



Her one concern, though, was for her husband John Bibby, who some of you may know in the gun community as Precision270. Dawn was a social butterfly and had immense social outreach; John is far more withdrawn and doesn't make friends as easily as she. Dawn's greatest fear was that after she passed, John would find himself without friends to help him through his grief and struggles to rebuild his life without her. I promised Dawn that John was my friend and that I'd always be there for him.

Right now, John's need is financial. He lost nearly a month's worth of work just by taking Dawn to various cancer treatments, and he hardly left her side during her final days. Now that he's gone, the Amazon business that they ran together is without its chief motive force, so he's lost nearly half his income. I don't know how much of the funds that were raised for her cancer treatments are left, but I know that hospitals and hospices aren't cheap, and she needed a fundraiser in the first place because her insurance coverage was being... well, not to put too fine a point on it, but they were being complete and utter assholes.  And now, John has to take what is left to cremate his wife, have a memorial to celebrate her life, and try to get on with his.

If you'd like to help, I ask that you donate to the GoFundMe campaign with instructions that John use the money to get back on his feet. It's what Dawn would have wanted.

I'll miss you, Dawn.

This is what love looks like.
They were an incredible couple, truly meant for each other.