Dawn Clarke

Dawn is a 52-year-old woman who lives in Southern Ontario, on the Mississaugas of the Credit   First Nation, near Hagersville, Ontario, Canada. She grew up in a military life & still feels very connected to it. Dawn has been living in and around her mother’s Indigenous community for over half of her life but has always considered it part of her identity and home. Dawn thought she was destined to join the Canadian military, where in fact she had prepped by being an exemplary cadet in the Royal Canadian Army Cadet corps in Lahr, West   Germany as well as surpassed others in her aptitude testing and only needed to wait for the call for basic training. For some reason, the call never came and Dawn went on to have children, and then attend College to gain her Registered   Nursing license. Dawn had a career as an RN for a number of years and had to end her demanding role due to developing symptoms of heart and lung disease. Dawn now enjoys teaching acrylic paint classes occasionally to organizational groups and often adds a wellness component to many of her classes. She will continue to do this until she is no longer physically able to. Her biggest accomplishment is having raised 2 sons into adulthood as a single parent and now experiencing a new type of love with her first grandchild, 4.5 month old   Nolan &; 5.5 year old step-Grandson, Grayson. Dawns favourite activities are painting, drawing, singing, writing, watching and hearing jets fly, sports cars & classic vehicles, learning, and interacting with her grandsons.

Dawn became involved with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association of Canada (PHA Canada) last year (2023) as a volunteer and an Ambassador in the Spring of 2024. Her most important goals in life at this point, is to learn to live in wellness, spend time with her Grandsons and family, find and live in peace &; happiness, explore and participate in parts of life that are possible and push her limits at times to experience life while also helping others, as well as self-focus as much as possible. Dawn hopes to show others that it is possible to live in happiness & obtain fulfillment no matter what stage of life she is at, while finding ways to cope during each challenge or obstacle that appears in life.