HunterSeven, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans suffering from cancer-related illnesses brought on by military service, recently received a big boost in funding.
The organization, based in Providence, Rhode Island, was granted a $100,000 donation from Philip Morris International U.S. Businesses to develop more programs to assist veterans, such as providing cancer screenings across the country.
Since starting as a research program in 2018, HunterSeven has transformed into a valuable resource for veterans, while also providing tools for medical professionals treating former service members.
Chelsey Simoni, who serves as the organization’s chief health officer, served in the Army until a back injury forced her out of the military. One day, while chatting with her husband, also a veteran, the conversation of veterans dying early was brought up. Not in combat. Not from suicide. But from cancer. Especially veterans who served deployments in the Persian Gulf and the post-911 conflicts.
Going Beyond PACT Act
The PACT Act, signed into law in 2022, finally provided some relief from the Department of Veterans Affairs to millions of veterans battling rare cancers from Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, and other toxins from burn pits and explosions in the Middle East.
While Simoni was pleased to see the PACT Act passed, she referred to it as “putting a Band-Aid on a bullet hole.”
Simoni doesn’t believe the legislation tackles the core aspect of the issue – limited education in the medical field for doctors to pinpoint symptoms of exposure and health care professionals not knowing veterans’ service records and risk factors.
“This is the best way to put it: if someone said to me, ‘Chelsey, your husband Kyle, an Army veteran, Iraq war veteran, he’s 38 years old, he’s going to die of colon cancer. We’re very sorry, but here’s $4,000 in benefits a month through the PACT Act that can help you while you’re caring for him at his end stage of life, but he’s going to die,’” Simoni told WPRI in Rhode Island. “You can’t put a price on somebody’s life.”
Simoni feels more funds need to be directed toward health care and finding ways to treat, and potentially cure, service-related cancers before it’s too late.
“So, the PACT ACT, while it’s great in theory, we’ve seen in the past year, in 2025 we’re spending twice as much on disability benefits and death benefits than we are on actual health care. That’s a downstream problem,” Simoni said. “Why are we waiting until these effects become terminal and significant to the point that people are dying? We’re running out of space at Arlington National Cemetery, not because of combat-related deaths, because of cancer-related deaths.”
Self-Advocacy is Key
Jeff Bosley, an Army veteran, was shocked to learn he had a rare form of prostate cancer at only 46 years old. Less than 1 percent of cases are diagnosed in men under 50.
Through HunterSeven, Bosley connected with a prominent urologist in Chicago who performed surgery on the ailing veteran. However, the cancer returned two months later. Other treatments haven’t worked to fight the cancer, so Bosely is searching for different options. HunterSeven is currently fundraising to help him receive treatment overseas.
Bosley believes veterans must advocate for themselves when facing serious health concerns.
“Our families, particularly the military and members of the military, were kind of bred to be polite,” Bosley said. “Remain polite but be hostile with your health care and your advocacy because at the end of the day, you’re going to go into this grave alone and there’s nothing wrong with being ruthlessly indignant almost with your health care advocacy.”
A GoFundMe account has raised nearly $28,000 as of Thursday to help Bosley receive the treatment he needs.
In 2019, WPRI released “A Burning Controversy,” a series of reports examining the effects of toxic exposure on veterans.
