ORLANDO, Fla. – Wendy Chioji, a former news anchor at WESH-TV, died Monday night at the age of 57 after her well-documented battle with cancer.
Chioji's brother, Alan Chiogioji, make the announcement via a Facebook post.
“My beautiful, strong, defiant, bad-ass sister, Wendy Chioji, lost her fight with cancer tonight,” Alan Chiogioji said. “From climbing mountains, to participating in triathlons, to traveling the world, she lived every day to the fullest. She never let her disease stop her from doing the things that she wanted to do. She is my hero, and I miss her already.”
Chioji worked at the Orlando TV station for 20 years before moving to Utah in 2008.
She later hosted a TV series called "Growing Bolder," which aired on WKMG-TV News 6.
Growing Bolder CEO Marc Middleton posted on Facebook about the death.
"I hurt for Wendy’s family and friends but not for Wendy. She lived more in the past 5 years than most of us will live in 5 lifetimes. Wendy didn't like to talk about death so we rarely did," Bolder wrote. "I did ask her on-camera last year if she thought about death and she answered, 'I think of death almost every day in some form or fashion.'"
Chioji announced she had breast cancer in 2001. In 2013, she revealed that she had thymic carcinoma, a cancer of the thymus gland. A year later, she announced the cancer had returned.
According to her website, Chioji was an award-winning broadcast journalist, a world traveler and a strong advocate for cancer survivors around the world.
She traveled to Africa in 2014 and climbed on top of Mount Kilimanjaro for cancer survivors. Chioji participated in critical trials and completed five Ironman distance triathlons.
Marc Middleton, Chioji's former colleague, shared his thoughts about her on Facebook, saying, "I am devastated. I am heartbroken. I am lost. But I’ll SAY YES to today and tomorrow and I’ll DEFY because that is what Wendy Chioji did every day. She got up and she lived life fearlessly despite a terminal diagnosis or perhaps because of it."
Read his full tribute below.
I am devastated. I am heartbroken. I am lost. But I’ll SAY YES to today and tomorrow and I’ll DEFY because that is what...
Posted by Marc Middleton on Tuesday, October 8, 2019