Tanya Sumner, known as Tanya Spencer during her years as an Indianapolis television reporter and anchor, died at home on May 24, 2024, at age 53. She was diagnosed with colon cancer after emergency surgery in November 2022, according to WRTV.
Who was Tanya Sumner?
Sumner spent 20 years in television journalism, including 10 years as a reporter and anchor at WRTV, where she was known professionally as Tanya Spencer. After leaving the station in 2015, she became Whitestown’s director of public relations, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported.
She later served on the Whitestown Town Council, joining in May 2023. In January 2024, she was elected the council’s vice president, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal.
What happened after her diagnosis?
WRTV reported that emergency surgery on November 17, 2022, led to the discovery of Sumner’s colon cancer. In remarks quoted by the station, she said she had a KRAS G12C mutation and described her cancer as aggressive and fast-growing. She also said chemotherapy and later cancer-fighting drugs had not been effective, and that the cancer had spread through her abdomen. These details describe Sumner’s reported experience, not a general account of the mutation or of colon cancer.
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She died at home on May 24, 2024. Both WRTV and the Indianapolis Business Journal reported that she was 53.
Her message about screening
Sumner urged people to get screened, drawing on her own diagnosis. WRTV quoted her saying, “If you could imagine me finding this grapefruit size tumor 6 years earlier–we would be having a different conversation. Yeah its (a colonoscopy) uncomfortable, its unpleasant. No one wants a colonoscopy but get the thing. Get it at 45,”
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That was Sumner’s personal appeal, as reported by WRTV, rather than a substitute for current medical guidance. Her final Facebook post, reproduced by the station, read: “Time. Good health. Those are our only true commodities. Our only true currencies that matter.”
Quick Recap
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Sources
- WRTV, “Former WRTV anchor dies at age 53,” May 25, 2024
- Indianapolis Business Journal, “Whitestown councilor and former WRTV reporter Tanya Sumner dies at 53,” May 27, 2024
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