Nicki Hunter

The diagnosis came mid-career and without warning: T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma, a particularly aggressive form of cancer that targets the lymphatic system. She was in intensive care, undergoing chemotherapy, and had no health insurance. What happened next says something specific about the community she had built herself inside — radio stations ran fundraising drives, KSEX and SMART SMS organized a text-to-donate campaign, and a non-profit foundation called Hunter C.A.R.E. was created specifically to help her family manage the mounting medical bills, with a stated goal of eventually supporting broader cancer relief and research. She survived. She went back to work, not in front of the camera but behind it and behind a microphone. She is married to performer Jason Horne and they have two sons together. She hosts a show on Vivid Radio on Sirius XM, which puts her in the unusual position of being a recognizable voice in the industry long after most performers have simply disappeared. The before and the after of her story are rarely the same person's story.