Former WESH 2 News anchor Wendy Chioji has passed away following a battle with cancer. She was 57 years old.Her brother shared the news of her passing Monday night on Facebook. "My beautiful, strong, defiant, bad-ass sister, Wendy Chioji, lost her fight with cancer tonight. From climbing mountains, to participating in triathlons, to traveling the world, she lived everyday 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," Alan Chiogioji wrote. In 2013, Chioji took to her blog to share that she had been diagnosed with a fast-growing cancer of the thymus gland. She announced the cancer had returned once again a year later. Chioji chronicled her first battle with cancer in 2001 in a diary on WESH.com.Chioji was born in Oxnard, California, but grew up primarily in Silver Spring, Maryland. She went to college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She came to WESH in 1988 from Savannah, Georgia to work as an evening reporter. In a story she wrote on the 50th anniversary of WESH-TV, she recalled her first report in Central Florida. “I was so nervous on my first story, which was about a road being built and a small business being condemned to make way in Orange County, that I couldn't remember the outcue. You know, the part where you say "Wendy Chioji, WESH 2 News." I think it took about 15 takes, but my photographer was very patient. I think I only made him 90 minutes late getting home for dinner.”Chioji covered countless stories during her two decades at WESH. The space shuttle Columbia disaster; the pope's visit to Cuba; the Atlanta Olympics after the bombing; the Salt Lake City Olympics; political conventions; presidential visits; and even the time Mel Gibson and Danny Glover came to Orlando for "Lethal Weapon III."She won an Emmy award as part of a team that put together a WESH 2 News special report titled "A Heroin Emergency" and the duPont Columbia award for coverage of the Shuttle Columbia disaster. Chioji left WESH in 2008 to pursue a new life built around her passion for physical fitness and athletics. During the final moments of her final newscast at WESH 2 News, colleagues and the Central Florida community paid tribute to Wendy. You can watch that segment in the video player below. Chioji completed numerous Ironman distance triathlons and in 2014 she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro weeks after undergoing chemo. She documented the journey with a film that can be seen here. Chioji inspired and encouraged countless people in Central Florida and across the country as they stared down their own battles with cancer and she embodied the "live fearlessly" motto on her blog. She will be missed by all. Paint the Trail artist Jeff Sonsken created a panel of Chioji. He released a timelapse of his painting on the Paint the Trail Facebook Page.
WINTER PARK, Fla. — Former WESH 2 News anchor Wendy Chioji has passed away following a battle with cancer. She was 57 years old.
Her brother shared the news of her passing Monday night on Facebook.
"My beautiful, strong, defiant, bad-ass sister, Wendy Chioji, lost her fight with cancer tonight. From climbing mountains, to participating in triathlons, to traveling the world, she lived everyday 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," Alan Chiogioji wrote.
In 2013, Chioji took to her blog to share that she had been diagnosed with a fast-growing cancer of the thymus gland. She announced the cancer had returned once again a year later. Chioji chronicled her first battle with cancer in 2001 in a diary on WESH.com.
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Chioji was born in Oxnard, California, but grew up primarily in Silver Spring, Maryland. She went to college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
She came to WESH in 1988 from Savannah, Georgia to work as an evening reporter. In a story she wrote on the 50th anniversary of WESH-TV, she recalled her first report in Central Florida.
“I was so nervous on my first story, which was about a road being built and a small business being condemned to make way in Orange County, that I couldn't remember the outcue. You know, the part where you say "Wendy Chioji, WESH 2 News." I think it took about 15 takes, but my photographer was very patient. I think I only made him 90 minutes late getting home for dinner.”
Chioji covered countless stories during her two decades at WESH. The space shuttle Columbia disaster; the pope's visit to Cuba; the Atlanta Olympics after the bombing; the Salt Lake City Olympics; political conventions; presidential visits; and even the time Mel Gibson and Danny Glover came to Orlando for "Lethal Weapon III."
She won an Emmy award as part of a team that put together a WESH 2 News special report titled "A Heroin Emergency" and the duPont Columbia award for coverage of the Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Chioji left WESH in 2008 to pursue a new life built around her passion for physical fitness and athletics.
During the final moments of her final newscast at WESH 2 News, colleagues and the Central Florida community paid tribute to Wendy. You can watch that segment in the video player below.
Chioji completed numerous Ironman distance triathlons and in 2014 she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro weeks after undergoing chemo. She documented the journey with a film that can be seen here.
Chioji inspired and encouraged countless people in Central Florida and across the country as they stared down their own battles with cancer and she embodied the "live fearlessly" motto on her blog. She will be missed by all.
Paint the Trail artist Jeff Sonsken created a panel of Chioji. He released a timelapse of his painting on the Paint the Trail Facebook Page.
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