Tanya Sumner, a former news anchor and local politician, died at the age of 53 on May 24.
According to WRTV, for which Tanya spent 10 years as a reporter and anchor, “Tanya Sumner, known as Tanya Spencer during her television reporting career, also served District Three on the Whitestown Town Council. She died at her home on May 24.”
“The town of Whitestown has lost a dedicated leader who will leave a void in all our hearts,” Whitestown Town Manager Katie Barr said in a statement to WRTV. “Vice President Sumner wasn’t just a dedicated councilwoman, she was ingrained in our community and cared deeply for her family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. Her love for this community was infectious and will be sorely missed.”
Tanya Sumner Shared Touching Final Message Before Succumbing to Cancer Battle
Throughout Tanya’s journey battling cancer, her friends started a GoFundMe to help support her during treatments.
“Our dear friend Tanya has a rare, genetically-mutated aggressive colon cancer which metastasized to the lining of her abdomen and grew into a network of nodule tumors wrapping around her internal organs and has now spread into her liver and lungs,” they wrote on the fundraiser page.
“This cancer is currently terminal and we’re hoping for medical breakthroughs in treatment options.”
Back in 2023, per WRTV, Tanya used her diagnosis to spread awareness and encourage others to keep up with colonoscopies.
“If you could imagine me finding this grapefruit-sized tumor 6 years earlier — we would be having a different conversation,” she said at the time. “Yeah it’s (a colonoscopy) uncomfortable, it’s unpleasant. No one wants a colonoscopy but get the thing. Get it at 45.”
Just before her death, Tanya posted an emotional statement on Facebook: “Time. Good health. Those are our only true commodities. Our only true currencies that matter.”