Indianapolis TV news anchor Tanya Spencer dead at 53 after cancer battle

Longtime Indianapolis television journalist Tanya Spencer died Friday following her years-long battle with colon cancer, according to WRTV .

She was 53 years old.

Spencer worked in journalism for over 20 years, 10 with WRTV, where she served as a reporter and news anchor.

The beloved journalist shared one final message with friends before her death.

“Time. Good health. Those are our only true commodities. Our only true currencies that matter,” she wrote on Facebook.

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Spencer, also known as Tanya Sumner after her marriage, was diagnosed with colon cancer in November 2022 while she underwent emergency surgery, the outlet reported.

She soon learned that the cancer spread throughout her abdomen due to a “very aggressive and fast-growing” genetic mutation.

Spencer began taking cancer-fighting medications after the chemo failed, but those proved to be ineffective in September.

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While battling cancer, she became an advocate for health, urging others to get a colonoscopy.

She graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1996 and landed her first news as an anchor and reporter for 14 WFIE in Evansville, Ind., until 2005, according to her LinkedIn.

After leaving WRTV in 2015, Spencer became the Director of Public Relations and councilwoman for the town of Whitestown, about 30 minutes outside of Indianapolis.

She also served as the Vice President for Whitestown’s District 3.

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Emmy award-winning WRTV anchor Rafael Sánchez said Spencer was “committed to excellence” in a heartwarming post memorializing her hard work as a journalist and public servant.

“She was a hard worker who was also a private person,” Sánchez wrote on Facebook. “Please send positive thoughts to her husband, their son, her father, her family and friends.”

Whitestown Town Manager Katie Barr called the former anchor a “dedicated councilwoman” who was “ingrained in our community and cared deeply for her family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues,” the town’s X account shared .

“Her love for this community was infectious and will be sorely missed.”

The town of Zionsville, just outside of Whitesville, also mourned Spencer as a “true public servant.”

“Tanya was a true public servant, a wife, and mother, she will be missed by all. Both Whitestown and Zionsville are better because of her efforts. On behalf of all of us, we send our deepest condolences,” the town posted on Facebook.

She leaves behind a husband and a teenage son.

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