Ion-search: keep cancel button visible

My solution was to bind a function to the ionInput event, adding a custom class name…

  menuFocusMode(ev){
    let el=document.getElementsByTagName('ion-searchbar');
    el[0].classList.add('MY-CUSTOM-CLASS')
  }

… then update the scss file for my page template…

  .searchbar-ios.searchbar-show-cancel.MY-CUSTOM-CLASS .searchbar-ios-cancel {
    display: block;
    padding-left:8px;
  }

This is useful for my needs, since my search results bring up a custom UI, meaning the input field loses focus as soon as the user starts interacting with buttons (which normally causes the CANCEL button to disappear). Hope this helps someone else.