R.I.P. Wendy Chioji, Former Orlando TV News Anchor

Wendy Chioji

Wendy Chioji, the former WESH-Channel 2 anchor who inspired Central Florida with her frank account of battling cancer, died Monday night.

She was 57, reports The Orlando Sentinel.

In 2001, on a newscast of the NBC affiliate, Chioji announced she had breast cancer — a moment that reverberates in Orlando TV history and would define her gutsy approach the rest of her life.

Chioji logged 20 years at WESH and left in 2008 to move to Park City, Utah. But she continued to be a TV presence in Orlando through specials and the “Growing Bolder” TV series.

he “Live Fearlessly” blog, Chioji wrote detailed updates on her life and health. In 2013, she revealed that she had thymic carcinoma, a cancer of the thymus gland. A year later, she announced the cancer had returned.