80s Pop Singer Taylor Dayne’s Healing Journey: How a Private Hawaiian Retreat Helped Her Reclaim Purpose After Colon Cancer Diagnosis

Her retreat to Hawaii wasn’t just a getaway—it was a reckoning. Dayne admitted she went there “to die,” unsure whether she’d survive the surgery that would remove 10 inches of her colon. Though the procedure was successful and she avoided chemotherapy and radiation, the emotional toll lingered.

Amid the uncertainty, Hawaii became more than a place of escape—it became a sanctuary. Surrounded by what she called “the most loving, helping, and caring” people, Dayne began to heal in ways that went beyond the physical.

“[They helped] more than I could have ever figured out my purpose,” she said, crediting her care team and the island’s community with helping her rediscover meaning.

 

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Now cancer-free, Dayne has since stepped back into the spotlight with renewed clarity—and a deeper understanding of what it means to be an artist, a survivor.

At 63, she is still performing across the country with her most famous hits before sold-out crowds.

Coping With Your Mental Health After a Diagnosis

According to Mental Health America, “56% of adults with a mental illness receive no treatment, and over 27 million individuals experiencing a mental illness are going untreated.”

While millions of people have unmet mental health needs, the need for mental health resources is even greater among cancer patients and their families.

Research published in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences found that “35 to 40 percent of cancer patients have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder,” and the number of people experiencing mental health challenges is “higher among cancer patients with advanced stages of cancer and in palliative care settings.”

WATCH: How Genetic Testing Can Help Determine the Right Form of Mental Health Treatment.

Dr. Asher Aladjem, a board-certified psychiatrist at NYU Langone, tells SurvivorNet, “Anxiety is a protective and normal kind of symptom.”

“Sometimes the anxiety gets to the point that things stand in the way of the scan or whatever the test is, and people avoid it and run away from it. Treating the anxiety allows for the completion of the workup or the treatment or whatever the situation may be in a much more effective way,” Dr. Aladjem said.

Dr. Alagjem encourages patients to advocate for their mental health. He reminds us that even if mental health services are not offered while undergoing physical treatment for a diagnosis, patients can still ask their care team about them.

“We are trying to advocate for patients to be able to get the services that they need with whatever support they may need – whether it’s medications or therapy or nursing staff,” Dr. Alagjem added.

Taylor’s Cancer Journey

When Dayne, a mother of two, is asked about her cancer journey, she often begins with a sense of gratitude that her cancer was caught early.

Dayne’s career skyrocketed in 1987 when her hit single “Tell It to My Heart” hit the airwaves. Her memorable music video was filled with staples of the 1980s, including choreographed dance moves, leather, and big hair. Other hits Dayne is best known for include “Prove Your Love” and “I’ll Always Love You.” She also dipped her toes into acting with the television series “Rude Awakening.”

Her cancer journey began in the summer of 2022 when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Colon or colorectal cancer affects your large intestine (colon) or the end of your intestine (rectum). Her cancer was discovered following a routine colonoscopy.

“I develop polyps, so I had been getting them checked every six months,” Dayne told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“During one of those times, they found a very aggressive polyp,” she further explained.

A colonoscopy is a procedure doctors use to screen for colon cancer by looking inside the colon.

WATCH: Understanding a colonoscopy

This procedure requires your colon to be “cleaned out.” To clear out your colon, your doctor will prescribe a “bowel prep,” a liquid you drink the night before the procedure. The prep acts as a laxative that causes you to have multiple loose stools before your procedure.

Once your colon is cleared out, the gastroenterologist performing the procedure can have a clear look to evaluate if any polyps or masses are present.

Depending on the size and number of polyps found, it is recommended that patients undergo a repeat colonoscopy within three to five years.

Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal cancer surgeon and Director of the Cedars-Sinai Colorectal Cancer Center, previously explained the colonoscopy procedure to SurvivorNet.

“When we see a polyp, we actually physically take the polyp out through the colonoscope,” he explained.

“What does that mean? That means we basically put a wire through with a little bit of a flange at the end, and we pull the polyp out. Now, note that there is no pain with that. Inside the colon, there are no pain fibers, so there’s no pain,” Dr. Murrell added.

The advantage of a colonoscopy is that your doctor can remove any polyps found during the test. Many colon cancers can be caught on a colonoscopy before they develop or when the polyps are small enough to be removed without surgery.

Dayne said during a “Good Morning America” interview that when her doctor told her she had cancer, it was difficult to process.

“I didn’t take it in,” Dayne said.

When you’re diagnosed with cancer, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed with emotions. According to psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik, cancer patients’ emotions can range from anger to sadness and fear in a short span of time.

“The patient or person going through the stressful event should accept that emotions will be fluid. You may feel fine one day and then feel a massive wave of stress the next. It’s also important for those you look to for support, whether that’s a therapist, friends, and family, or both, to understand the fluidity of stress-related emotions,” Dr. Plutchik said.

Dayne revealed that as a child, she spent a lot of time in the hospital, so she learned to take good care of herself as she grew older. She regularly receives colonoscopies after her doctors previously found benign polyps during previous colonoscopies.

Dayne says that upon her diagnosis, her doctor “never even said the stage” but stressed that the cancer was detected early.

She treated her colon cancer by getting surgery, which removed 10 inches of her colon.

She told ABC News that after the procedure, she was declared “cancer-free.”

As the ‘80s singer was recovering from her surgery, she suffered an infection.

 

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“I was pretty much gutted right down the center. Then I had an infection. When you’re cut open, that can happen. I had issues around my spleen and pancreas. My recovery was slow. I just had to find the right antibiotics to cut the cancer out. I was very sick,” Dayne admitted.

She did not need chemotherapy, which involves cancer-killing drugs, or radiation therapy, which involves using high-energy beams such as X-rays aimed at cancer cells, hoping to kill them.

“I came back a fighter. I had ketamine treatments (which treat depression, anxiety, and PTSD). My body was so traumatized. I was in so much pain for so many months. I feel bad for people who are much older than me who can’t get through this,” Dayne said.

After recovering, Dayne says she’s more mindful about what she eats, adding, “I need stamina so I can be me on stage.”

Understanding Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is among the more common cancers impacting men and women in the U.S., but it’s also very treatable and curable if caught early. The cancer starts when abnormal lumps called polyps grow in the colon or rectum. These polyps can sometimes develop into cancer if you don’t have them removed. It takes up to 10 years for a colon polyp to become full-blown cancer, according to SurvivorNet experts.

Most colon cancers can be prevented if people are regularly screened. The American Gastrointestinal Association lowered the recommended initial age for colorectal screening from 50 to 45. However, experts recommend screening earlier for some people who may be at an increased risk of developing colon cancer.

WATCH: Colon cancer symptoms.

The most poignant signature of colon cancer is a change in bowel habits. Changes in the size or shape of bowel movements may cause constipation or diarrhea. A change in stool color, mainly black or tarry stools, can indicate bleeding from a tumor deep in the colon.

Other symptoms can be harder to pinpoint, such as abdominal pain and unintentional weight loss. Finally, some tumors bleed a small amount over a long period of time, resulting in anemia (low red blood cell count) that is picked up on blood work.

Questions to Ask Your Doctor

If you are facing a colon cancer diagnosis, here are some questions you may ask your doctor.

• What are my treatment options based on my diagnosis?
• If I’m worried about managing the costs of cancer care, who can help me?
• What support services are available to me? To my family?
• Could this treatment affect my sex life? If so, how and for how long?
• What are the risks and possible side effects of treatment?

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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