Cincy Anchor Fought Cancer in Silence

WKRC Anchor and Health Reporter Liz Bonis died last week.

Bonis was battling colon cancer, but no one at the station really knew what she was going through. “We had no idea she was battling cancer,” anchor Aleah Hordges told Good Morning Cincinnati viewers Friday morning.

Bonis had five surgeries and participated in six experimental oncology drug trials since her diagnosis in April 2023. Yet, almost no one at the station knew about her battle. Bonis “told no one. We didn’t know there was an issue until the last couple of weeks when she didn’t look quite right,” said a longtime co-worker of Bonis.

On her last day in the office — a week ago Friday, April 24 — she did three stories. And on Sunday and early Monday “she was texting people about possible national stories that could be done,” says Franco Gentile, WKRC-TV vice president and general manager.

She “told no one she was sick. In the last months and especially the last few weeks we suspected and knew something was wrong but were never told anything," a station employee said. "We didn’t dare ask because she wouldn’t have admitted anything. I think what surprised most of us was how long she’d been fighting."

“Even after anchoring four hours of news, she still did all of her health stories every single day. She was basically doing two full-time jobs at once,” wrote meteorologist John Gumm, who did the morning show for years before being named chief meteorologist. “I was in awe because by noon, I was done. But she just kept doing her thing and made it look effortless.”

H/T WVXU