Home invasion victim Susan Dawson is a twice survivor.

The fear that she experienced five years ago when she was diagnosed for colon cancer pales compared to the fright from an attack by a burglar.

The 63-year-old woman returned to her Lema Circle home about 7:30 a.m., Monday, July 29, after an exercise workout to surprise an intruder.

“I came through the garage and he came out of the front bedroom. He ran down the hallway and boom….right in my face with his fist,” said Dawson.

She later learned that the punch broke her nose in two places. Bleeding from her nose and face, she slumped to the floor and asked for a towel. He covered her head with a second towel and walked her to a rear bedroom.

“At this time, I’m hysterical, saying please don’t hurt me. Don’t kill me. Take whatever you want,” she recalled. “I was absolutely out of my mind with fear.”

Lying face down on the bedroom floor, he tied her hands behind her back and proceeded to ransack her closet and sort through jewelry.

She remembers him asking her if she owned a gun and she replied negatively. In his search of the closet, he found one.

“He said ‘you lied to me. You do have a gun,’ ” said Dawson. “I told him to take whatever you want.”

Although he left behind the gun on a counter, he helped himself to her wedding rings of two heart-shaped amethysts, two diamonds and gold band from her marriage 22 years ago; an opal ring, diamond necklace, gold hoop earrings and $1,500 in cash.

“He kept saying ‘Sh. Sh. Shut up’ as he kept pushing a finger in my back and telling me not to move or look up.”

He asked if she had a cell phone and she told him it was in the truck. “I didn’t want to give up my cell phone. I need that,” said the MCO Realtor.

When he inquired if anyone was expected home, she said her son, Michael Gant, was due soon. The burglar warned her to stay on the floor for 15 minutes after he left or “we will come back.”

“I don’t know how long I stayed there but quite a while. Finally I got the cord loose,” said Dawson. She telephoned her husband, Martin, who was out of town and returning home. He told her to call the police.

Screaming that she had been mugged, she ran outdoors and summoned assistance from neighbors. Her son and son-in-law, a Glendale police officer, discovered her in the house about 30 minutes after the attack.

In hindsight, Dawson thinks the intruder was frightened himself to find a person in the house.

Sherriff deputies told Dawson that the burglar may have entered the premises through a doggie dog leading from the backyard into the kitchen.

Her two rescue dogs were traumatized too, and have not yet recovered from signs of their behavior, said Dawson.

Rather than remain an anonymous victim, Dawson chose to share her experience as a warning to readers.

“How many times do you hear about this happening to someone?” she asked.

“It’s like when I had colon cancer five years ago. I told everyone to get a colonoscopy. You never know.”

“I don’t want people to be afraid but I want people to know that no matter where you live, we all have to be much more conscious. This is a different world.”

“Never in a million years would I expect to walk into my home and find some stranger in it.”

Besides the facial wounds, the assault emotionally bruised Dawson.

“I’ll never be the same person. I’ll be less willing to trust people. He has changed my whole life. I’ve lived here 28 years and now I’m looking over my shoulder,” said Dawson.