After Valerie Jeanne beat cancer, she found success in music and a newfound perspective

Ten years ago, local country and Christian singer Valerie Jeanne defied the odds by beating cancer. Now, she’s continuing to tell her story of perseverance and faith through her music – alongside a band of the Inland Northwest’s best.

Although Jeanne spent most her childhood in Ontario, California, before her family moved to the Coeur d’Alene area, she has lived in the Inland Northwest long enough to consider herself a “hometown girl.”

But it was back in Ontario where she first found her love for singing. Jeanne has been singing as long as she can remember. Home videos show Jeanne singing at just 3 years of age before she joined a church choir at age 6.

“I’ve just never stopped,” Jeanne said. “I’ve always found a way to perform somewhere.”

As a high school senior, Jeanne’s family made the move north.

“It was a little rough; little bit of a change there with all the snow,” Jeanne said.

Jeanne started working at Silverwood Theme Park, initially as a magician assistant before her boss caught wind of the fact that she was a singer. Soon she was doing four shows a day, six days a week, while just 17.

Since then, she has spent decades as a prolific performer in the Inland Northwest, particularly as a go-to National Anthem singer for events like Gonzaga basketball, Spokane Indians baseball, Spokane County Interstate Fair events and more. She has also performed in Nashville’s Charlie Daniels’ Talent Round Up and in Las Vegas as a Carrie Underwood tribute singer.

“It always seems like one thing leads to the next and another open door and opportunity,” Jeanne said.

In 2014, Jeanne noticed some worrying health signs and went to a doctor to be examined.

“The doctor hugged me several times and you could just kind of tell by the demeanor that there was some concern there,” Jeanne said.

At 39, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Stage 3 breast cancer, HER2-positive, in which cancer cells grow at a rapid rate. Things began to move “pretty quickly” for Jeanne.

“Next thing I know I’m sitting in a chemo chair,” Jeanne said. “It was coming after me to kill me.”

Jeanne moved forward with her family, faith and an “incredible team of doctors” to fight the cancer with over a year of chemotherapy and various forms of other treatment. Now, she is celebrating 10 years of being cancer free.

The experience changed much of how Jeanne went about life along with her music. With each day as well as every song, she not only takes in an immense amount of appreciation for the gift of life but pours her heart out as well. Jeanne lives, breathes and sings with a sense of raw emotional honesty that may only come from such a life-altering experience.

“I’m not the same person I was before that diagnosis,” Jeanne said. “It’s really just baring your soul with an audience because music is how I express what’s going on inside, and it’s something that I get to share with others that is deeply personal.”

On Sunday, Jeanne will be sharing her experiences the best way she knows how: through music. She will be performing a set of originals, classic country tunes and 1990s favorites at the Hamilton Studio Listening Room alongside a full backing band made up of powerhouse musicians. The talented list consists of Ben Rose on the guitar and lap steel, Mikaella Croskrey on the fiddle, Cole Peterson on the bass, T.J. Hoopes playing drums and Mellad Abeid, a songwriter on the guitar.

Abeid, Jeanne and another songwriter by the name of Michelle McCammond first found success years ago, when Jeanne was still in treatment. McCammond reached out to Jeanne with a song she and Abeid had co-written, “Rainbow After the Storm,” in hopes of having her sing the song about miracles and overcoming adversity. Jeanne strongly resonated with the piece that would go on to rise to the top of the Christian Music Weekly chart as well as the top 30 of the Nashville Christian Connection chart.

“It’s really personal to me,” Jeanne said. “It talks about miracles, and I believe that’s what happened in my life, so it’s pretty powerful when I get to sing about it.”