Florida News Anchor Wendy Chioji Passes Away After Battling Cancer For Years

Chioji was born in Oxnard, California and raised in Maryland. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and later joined WESH in 1988 after relocating from Savannah, Georgia. She began her career as an evening reporter for the Floridian news outlet, covering a story she wrote for the 50th anniversary of WESH-TV.

 

During her two decades at WESH, Chioji covered countless stories and won an Emmy award for a news special report titled “A Heroine Emergency” as well as a DuPont Columbia Award for her coverage of the Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Her battle with cancer began in 2001 with a breast cancer diagnosis and in 2008 the reporter left WESH to pursue her personal passions for physical fitness and athletics — a journey that led her to completing numerous Ironman triathlons and even successfully climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2014, a feat she accomplished just weeks after undergoing chemotherapy.

 

Chioji shared with the public in 2013 through her blog that she had been diagnosed with a rapidly-growing thymus gland cancer which returned again a year later.

Beloved by all in Central Florida, Wendy Chioji will be remembered and missed for her legacy of courage, warmth, and enthusiasm.

Featured image left via WESH 2, right via Twitter/@wchioji