Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chelsey Simoni. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Chelsey, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
One of the most defining moments that opened my eyes to military and veteran-related healthcare issues was during my senior year of nursing school. I was finishing my clinical rotations in a level-one emergency department, meaning it was a heavy trauma flow, in a bigger New England city. Of course, I was older having left the Army recently, so I had that “world-view” advantage. And, being from Boston, I am quite outspoken, not shy at all (also I thank the Army for that).
I had a young man, his upper thirties, as a patient, and he came in with increased shortness of breath, chest pain, and what he described as “months-long discolored snot”. I asked if he smoked cigarettes, he did. He looked physically fit, and stated he was an auto mechanic, but the nagging cough, pain and such was just getting worse. Of course, it was the fall and the flu was a concern, but this young man looked healthy, despite his smoking history, I had no concerns and the healthcare team didn’t either.
So after a brief review of this young man, he was told by the provider to “follow up with your doctor in 4-6 weeks if this doesn’t clear up” and gave him information on smoking cessation, along with an antibiotic to clear any potential infection, a corticosteroid to help with the inflammation, and an inhaler to help with any reactive airway concerns.
I began to fill out his paperwork for discharge and after removing his heart rate monitor, I noticed he had a shirt that said “Black Rifle Coffee Company”, which I, like most veterans am familiar with. To strike up a conversation, I mentioned I liked their coffee as well, and asked him if he was a military veteran. He said he was.
This was a defining moment. I don’t know why or what made me think of this, but I asked if he had deployed to Iraq, this young man mentioned he had, as he was a military police officer and deployed to Abu Ghraib to work in the prison with the locals. It all started to make sense.
I told the young veteran I would be right back and I went to my charge nurse and told her I feared this young man had a form of tuberculosis. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, since I was a student and more so, we lived in America, where tuberculosis is very rare. I begged the nurse to trust me, and she did. The doctor (at first, however) did not. I caught hell from him initially.
He said “This is America, young white men do not have TB”, I said while that is true, this young man spent 15 months in Iraq caring for the local population. It was an ah-ha moment for all of us. Sure enough, a chest x-ray and PPD test verified latent TB.
That was my defining moment.
We do not ask about veteran or military status in civilian hospitals, and even if we do, we do not really know where to go from there. And with more than 70% of post-9/11 military veterans utilizing non-VA, civilian healthcare, we need to be prepared, in-tune, more locked in to this potential experience and their potential exposures.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Personally, I served in the Army within an aviation unit for a better part of my life; after suffering two spinal cord injuries that required surgery, my career was cut short. I took the opportunity to attend nursing school and during that time while in school, I met my (now) husband, Kyle. Kyle had served in the Army as well and during one conversation in 2015, he had mentioned to me, “many of my friends died because of Iraq”.
I assumed he meant because of combat. He said no, they died when they came home.
I assumed suicide. He said no, because of cancer.
So he began naming all of these individuals who he had served with who passed away from cancer, ranging from 24 years old to 54 years old. Finally he mentioned a man who he respected greatly, SgtMaj. Rob Bowman, who died at 44 years old from a rare form of bile duct cancer. Robs callsign was HUNTER7.
The HunterSeven Foundation has created in January 2019 as a tribute to the legendary man himself, Rob Bowman.
The purpose of the foundation was to conduct medical research as that was our focus and I personally published academically, and internationally my junior year of undergraduate nursing school. The lack of evidence-based research was obvious and evident. Then, we found that with lack of research came a lack of educational knowledge and foundation. We began educating both military veterans and healthcare providers nationwide. Lastly, after our presence on social media spiked, the need for medical care, cancer screening, treatment options and second opinions skyrocketed. We began assisting military veterans diagnosed with and battling cancers.
Humbly speaking, there is no other organization that does what we do, especially as a majority of our staff is volunteer. We are set apart by the high standards and ethics we maintain. We do not do this for the money, more so to save as many lives as possible.
We are most proud of the care we are able to provide, sponsor and support post-9/11 military veterans with, It is life-saving, life-changing. It is so important to get those diagnosed with cancers the most accurate, adequate, evidence-based care available.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Resilience is an essential word in our work. As much as I can say I am pretty resilient, it is the veterans we care for with cancer who are resilient, they continuously humble me.
One story that is painfully heartbreaking, but is the definition of resilience is that of Reconnaissance Marine turned Green Beret, and Appleton Police Officer, Dominic Hall. I met Dominic in the Fall of 2021, but the impact he has had on me will be everlasting.
He was just 31 years old, recently separated from the military, a husband to his beautiful wife, Jacole, and a father to their two beautiful sons, Victor and Thorin. Even after separating from military service, Dom had a passion for serving others, a true man of God. He was a sworn member of the Appleton Police Department serving as a member of their SWAT and Sniper units. During an incident on July 25, 2019, Officer Dominic Hall and his trainee saw a man who appeared highly intoxicated and in need to a mental health and wellness check, and while Dom was speaking to the man, he pulled a knife and began stabbing himself in the neck, causing immediate, life-threatening injuries. Dominic was honored with the Department’s “Life-Saving Award” as if he hadn’t intervened, providing life-sustaining medical aid and support, this man would have died. But this is just one example of his selfless-serving, heroic actions.
He wasn’t one to brag about his service or accomplishments, in fact, you’d never know he had accomplished so much in such little time as the merit and medals were not ranked high on his list, more so, his greatest accomplishments in his opinion were his two boys. We found out how incredible this man was through candid discussions with his wife, Jacole. Unfortunately, the purpose of our meetings was under unfortunate circumstances. Dominic was diagnosed with stage 1B pancreatic adenocarcinoma at 31-years old. After some mislead biopsies and confusion, Dominic was given a genetically-related diagnosis, unfortunately, that wasn’t correct. His cancer spread and became terminal, stage four within seven months.
As the year progressed, so didn’t Dominics’ cancer. His local care team said it wasn’t possible to operate. His wife had told me his condition was worsening, deteriorating quickly, and his care team said realistically he most likely wouldn’t see the end of September.
We shared a story done by the Compass News recently, asking those who support the foundation to pray for Dominic and the Hall family. Mid-August, the chemotherapy, and active treatments had been discontinued. Dominic had just turned 33 in late August, he saw his oldest son off to his first day of school.
Dominic said… “If things don’t work out, I am prepared to accept that. Ultimately, from what I am gathering, the liver going into failure is what will take my life. There are a lot of nights that I don’t sleep because of the pain, but knowing that people are out there praying for me, I can’t put into words how much it touches my heart and how much it means to me that people are taking time out of their day to pray… it gives me so much hope.
We’ve thought of Dominic often during this time, his wife and children. I received a text from Jacole last Friday, she told me he was in the hospital and was more comfortable, and peaceful where days prior, he whispered what would be his last words to his wife, “I love you too…”.
When asked what I could do, and what she needed, she asked we pray for a peaceful rest for Dominic. My heart shattered. The strength of this woman was a match for her strong, stoic husband.
His last words to us were: In my heart, I feel that something good is going to come from this, God’s ways are not our ways. Ultimately, he’s going to use my death to spur something. I’m offering up my suffering for other people who are sick or suffering. I just know there’s something good coming from my death because God’s plans are for good, not for ill…”
Dominic passed away on September 4th, 2022.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
This is an ironic question, and I feel it would be appropriate to answer. First and foremost, we try our very hardest not to grow our clientele. What began as 1-2 new cancer cases in January 2019, turned into 10-20 new cancer causes weekly. It is exhausting and heartbreaking how many post-9/11 veterans are sick and ill from cancer.
We pulled data from the Department of Defense, and out of the 3.7 million active duty service members who served between 9/11/2001 to 9/11/2021 – over 520,000 have been diagnosed with cancer. That is approximately 1 in 7. Our clientele is rapidly growing at an uncontrollable rate, and unfortunately, we do not see this changing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HunterSeven.org
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/HunterSevenFoundation
- Facebook: www.Facebook.com/HunterSevenFoundation
- Linkedin: www.LinkedIn.com/company/huntersevenfoundation/
- Twitter: www.Twitter.com/H7Foundation
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HunterSevenFoundation
- Other: https://www.classy.org/give/320643/#!/donation/checkout
Image Credits
1) Chelsey Simoni, Executive Director and Clinical Nurse Researcher at the HunterSeven Foundation presented at the Warfighter Health Symposium in Tampa, discussing the pre-deployment verses post-deployment symptoms in service members. 2) A shell casing and funeral memorial card of Army veteran, Dominic Hall who passed away on September 4th 2022 from pancreatic cancer, sent to the foundation by his wife, Jacole. 3) Members of the HunterSeven Foundation team (L to R: Co-Founder, Kyle Simoni; Director of Immediate Needs and Case Management, Keith Dow; Director of Education, Jack Ratliff), all of which are Army combat veterans displaying and discussing cancer prevention, early identification, and genomic testing at the AUSA Conference in Washington D.C., in the Fall of 2022. 4) Chelsey Simoni presenting clinical findings on veteran healthcare at civilian care settings at the American Academy of Nursing Annual Conference in October 2022. 5) The gravestone of SgtMaj. Robert Bowman, callsign HUNTER7, at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 60, site 10381) who passed away from a rare form of bile duct cancer at 44 years old. 6) Navy Veteran and Corpsman, Justin Barnhart rings the bell after finalizing his radiation therapy for stage IV brain cancer while wearing a HunterSeven Foundation hat. 7) Veteran-owned coffee company, Black Rifle Coffee Co., and their founder, Evan Hafer, along with BRCC Fund present the HunterSeven Foundation with a check for $71,000 to continue their lifesaving research and education on the companies “Opening Day” at the New York Stock Exchange. 8) HunterSeven Foundation logo