The Cancer Stories: Jeannette and Brad Boner

The Cancer Stories series shares the real experiences of patients from our community, documenting the challenging and often complex journey to healing. It’s a road that St. John’s Health is working to make shorter by bringing advanced cancer care closer to home. To learn more, visit www.stjohns.health/cancercenter.
__

A cancer diagnosis can shift our identity. Overnight, the labels that define us—like parent, professional, spouse, friend—are forced to take a backseat as a new, unwelcome identity takes over: Patient.

But that shift doesn’t stop with the person diagnosed. It ripples outward, causing others to adopt new roles they didn’t expect, too.

For Brad and Jeannette Boner, the first signs of that shift arrived on an otherwise ordinary Saturday morning.

In September 2025, the pair were spending a typical morning at home in Victor, ID—drinking coffee, swapping stories about their two children, Will, 10, and Adeline, 12, and of course, catching up on the news. News was always a big topic in the Boner household: Jeannette is a longtime reporter with the Jackson Hole News & Guide, and Brad serves on the editorial staff and as a staff photographer.

Today, Brad interrupted their usual conversation with an unusual request—would Jeannette feel an odd bump on his abdomen he’d recently noticed?

The two mused about what it could be. A beloved friend had recently passed; could the bump be stress related? Jeannette didn’t want to speculate. Instead, she shot a message to her primary care provider, whom the family shares a close relationship with. “One of the benefits of small-town living,” Jeannette says.

By Monday, Brad was in the provider’s office. An MRI and CT followed quickly. By Wednesday, they had their answer: the mass was cancer.

The news was a shock. Brad and Jeannette were fit and active. They were parents of young children. They were in the prime of their careers. A cancer diagnosis didn’t fit the narrative of their lives, or the story they’d been building together.

From there, things started happening fast. Brad’s five-pound tumor needed to come out. Surgery was scheduled at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. But as soon as he was back home, new complications arose. Brad was rushed back to Huntsman on an emergency flight, where a second abdominal surgery was conducted to remove his spleen and “put his insides back together,” Jeannette says.

Since then, the Boner’s schedules have been filled with post-op recovery and radiation appointments, often requiring long trips away from home.

As Brad went all in on the task of healing, Jeannette found herself suddenly juggling a new set of tasks and roles, too. On top of her job as a trusted reporter and her responsibilities as a mom, she had now become a care advocate, logistics coordinator, and travel planner as well.

The long stretches away from home were emotional and difficult. “I had never been away from my children for so long before,” Jeannette says. Will and Adeline grew accustomed to a new routine—one that included packing their dad’s hospital bag full of stuffies and handmade cards, and staying with neighbors and friends who stepped in to help. “They ask when their parents will be back,” Jeannette says.“They’re young enough that the time away can feel endless.”

“Some days, it feels as if I’m using all the effort I have to do even the smallest tasks—even just going to the pharmacy becomes a monumental expense of energy that feels like swimming in mud,” says Jeannette. “On those days, traveling out-of-state for treatment feels herculean.”

Through these challenges, Jeannette and Brad’s relationship with their care team at St. John’s Health has been a meaningful bright spot. Led by oncologist Dr. Melissa Cohen, Brad’s team has provided care that Jeannette describes as “so intimate and so personal.”

“Dr. Cohen and the other providers at St. John’s Health Oncology have been incredible,” Jeannette says, recalling how they quickly responded to messages, even when they weren’t in the clinic. “And the nurses have been incredible too. Our nurse Evan’s mom lives right down the street from us, and I want to call her and ask her how she was able to raise such an amazing son.”

That “intimate, personal” care “went beyond the cancer center in Jackson,” Jeannette says. Knowing how hard the time away from home had been, Dr. Cohen requested Brad’s specialists at Huntsman get licensed to see Idaho patients via telehealth, so Brad doesn’t need to travel for care as often.

“It’s made a huge difference,” Jeannette says. “It’s a luxury to be able to access vital care close to home, especially on those days when even a few blocks to the grocery store feels beyond what’s achievable.”

Brad still has a long road ahead of him. But with the support of Jeannette, his family and community, and his team at St. John’s Health, he’s confident in his road to healing. “His singular focus these days is on taking care of himself and conquering cancer,” Jeannette says with pride. “He’s not going to leave anything on the table.”

__

Thanks to our generous community, the road to healing is about to get shorter. To learn more about our plans for a comprehensive new cancer center, visit www.stjohns.health/cancercenter.

Those interested in supporting the Foundation campaign are invited to contact Foundation President Anna Olson at 307-690-7669.