Life on Her Terms: Dawn Trombley lives fully as an athlete, teacher, grandmother, and affected adult

By Anne Kaier, also an affected adult (ARCI-lamellar ichthyosis)  

Dawn Trombley, who has ARCI-lamellar ichthyosis, seems to have lived her life pretty much as she wanted to. She’s an ebullient, outgoing woman with a lot of energy. Her own personality shines through her conversation. “I never met a wall I couldn’t talk to,” she says.

A true extrovert, Dawn has always enjoyed getting out there and mixing it up with people. She played volleyball and basketball in college. To this day, you can find her on the tennis court wearing an ice vest. Living in a small town near Austin, Texas, she tries to play in the early morning or inside, but she loves the game, loves feeling her body move in a sport she’s good at.

Dawn was into athletics from an early age, swimming competitively as a child. Her parents were in the mission field and she and her brothers grew up in “little bitty towns, all over,” she remembers. That meant she had to make new friends often. Occasionally, that led to trouble. “Some parents didn’t want me playing with their kids,” she remembers.

In the 1950s and 60s when she was growing up, kids with ichthyosis, she says, generally weren’t offered counseling or treatment for depression if they wanted it. Even at the Mayo Clinic, she reports, all the doctors could offer her was Vaseline and wrapping up with Saran Wrap. “I developed a thick skin,” she laughs. “I’m just not easily bothered—and what am I gonna do? Change?”

This practical, positive personality helped get her though some tough years in high school in Texas. She concentrated on academics and sports in public school and dated, but it wasn’t easy. When she got to college at Kansas State, though, she was elected homecoming queen. “The farmers’ kids liked me,” she remembers, “because I didn’t think I was better than they were.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in education at Kansas State and, later, a master’s in family counseling from the University of Kansas and a doctorate from the University of La Verne in California. This education surely helped her talk skillfully with affected families and understand their concerns about how life as an affected person can be lived.

Dawn met her husband, Joseph Trombley, through friends. “We just clicked,” she says. “He’s a radiologist and is quieter than me,” she remarks. “Maybe opposites do attract.” They raised their five kids in California, where she taught special education. She taught a variety of kids—some blind, some deaf, and some with learning disabilities. But she also insisted on having non-disabled kids in her classroom, too. “I wanted kids with a variety of experiences, so they could learn from each other,” she says.

Ever the athlete, she coached volleyball and swimming in a Catholic school as well. “I got all the kids who didn’t get picked for the teams,” she remembers. “I had to go to the priest and say, you gotta let my people go to bat the first time up—or they’ll never get to bat.” Once again, she was looking out for the underdog.

When Dawn talked to FIRST, she and her husband were traveling near the Arctic Circle, where, in mid-summer, it was light all the time. Maybe that perpetual summer light mirrored her personality and her positive outlook.

When her kids were younger, she said, they used to be a bit protective of her. If they were out and someone in the street made a rude comment such as “do you know you’re sunburned?” or “you could lead Santa’s sleigh,” her kids might ask Dawn if these comments hurt her feelings. “Not much,” she’d tell them. “It’s okay for people to learn about something new like ichthyosis.” She says all her grandkids know she has “something genetic.”  “Some people are born smart,” she tells them. “Some people are born athletic. Some people are born with dry skin.” Some people, like Dawn, are born with all three.

Another trait shaping Dawn's personality? Kindness. “Having ichthyosis has made me more empathetic, I think,” she says, “less quick to judge. When I see someone different like me, my heart goes out to them.” 

Dawn didn’t know about FIRST until late 2005. It was a good find. She’s grateful for the group because it puts her in touch with other people and families affected by ichthyosis.

She’s served as an Ambassador, talking mainly to parents and grandparents of childrens with ichthyosis. “I ask them what their concerns and hesitations are,” she says. She talks about her own experiences as a way to show parents that their child can grow up to have a satisfying life.

“I’m as normal as I can be,” she says.

She’s also, needless to say, a great advocate, especially as an affected adult, for FIRST. 

About the Author: Anne Kaier
Kaier's memoir, They Said I Couldn't Have a Love Life, was a Finalist for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs' 2024 Sue William Silverman Prize. Her essays have appeared widely in venues such a The New York Times, The Kenyon Review, 1966journal, Alaska Quarterly Review, and the anthology About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of The New York Times for which she appeared on NPR's Radio Times. "Maple Lane" was mentioned on the list of notables in an edition of Best American Essays. Her poetry collection, How Can I Say It Was Not Enough?, won the Propel Poetry Award. It's out from the Nine Mile Press, 2025 (distributed by Syracuse University Press). Poems have appeared in several anthologies including the 2012 ALA Notable Book Beauty is a Verb: An Anthology of Poetry, Poetics, and Disability. She is a Virginia Center for Creative Arts Fellow and has served on a Fullbright screening committee for creative writers. She has an MA from the University of Oxford and a PhD from Harvard University. 

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Neither FIRST, its Board of Directors, Medical & Scientific Advisory Board, Board of Medical Editors, nor Foundation staff and officials endorse any treatments listed here.  All issues pertaining to the care of patients with ichthyosis should be discussed with a dermatologist experienced in the treatment of their skin disorder.