By Taren Fujimoto
In his sharp black suit and matching tie, broad-shouldered KITV 4 news co-anchor Shawn Ching is all business – delivering the latest news in Hawaii and around the world every weekday at 6 and 10 p.m.
Before he started at KITV as sports director in 1995, the former All-Western Athletic Conference center for the University of Hawaii Warrior football team began his career covering UH athletics for KHNL-TV. However, it wasn't long before the novelty of sports reporting wore off.
"I got bored with sports," admits Ching, 37, who began anchoring weekend newscasts and reporting for KITV in 1998. "I've always been a current events person. Especially on a personal level, news is more interesting."
Reporting has enabled Ching to experience a variety of news stories firsthand – such as interviewing victims and family members after the 1999 Xerox shootings in Honolulu and the recent Big Island earthquakes. But his mother's chance medical diagnosis prompted the journalist to go off the air for three months and forced him to deal with his own life-changing event.
Upon returning home from a trip to Chicago, a painful foot bunion and nasty cold sent Ching's mother to the doctor's office. The severity of her cold prompted the doctor to take a chest X-ray. It revealed that she had stage 3b lung cancer – the last stage before terminal cancer.
"I was devastated," says Elaine Ching of her diagnosis. "For the first couple months, I couldn't sleep at night. And when I would, all I could dream about was cancer. It really bothered me, especially as a mom. You go to that morbid place. I was even giving away jewelry. But Shawn wouldn't let me feel sorry for myself."
With the support of her family, friends, church members and medical staff, she turned self-pity into determination. "The survival rate for lung cancer patients is about 10 to 20 percent," she says. "I told myself: Why can't I be in that small percentage that will survive?"
Elaine eats healthy foods, takes health supplements, and works out four times a week, two of those days with 17 other cancer patients in the Hoola Cancer Exercise Wellness Program at the Honolulu Club. The program helps clients maintain flexibility, regain cardiovascular endurance, build strength, and recover functional ability. "We can laugh and talk about cancer," she says. "You learn to live your life and not let cancer control [it]."
Recently however, the tumor metastasized to Elaine's brain. She needed surgery and has undergone several chemotherapy treatments. Through it all, says Shawn, his mother remains strong. "She's an amazingly tough woman, and I've come to appreciate her toughness."
Throughout the experience, Shawn has found solace in physical exercise, something that has always propelled him through life. "When I get in the zone, I lose track of everything else," he says. "I wish I could live every day, every moment like that. If I could, I'd reach enlightenment."
While his hectic schedule does not always permit him to do his preferred Pilates routine, he does a hybrid of other exercises, including traditional and power weight lifting, using the workout ball, and performing squats and core exercises. He also enjoys swimming, playing basketball, and surfing every now and then.
Shawn also tries to maintain a healthy diet. "I'm trying to eliminate meat from my diet," he says. "It's been hard. Ever since my mom became ill, it changed a lot of things. But there are a lot of positives that come with fighting cancer. I cannot begin to tell you how much my family has grown. It has brought us closer to God. The spiritual aspect of it is amazing."
The experience has also given him a new perspective on life. "A lucrative career means little to me," says Shawn. "I live right now, in the instant. It's sharpened my appreciation for being here on earth and the concept of brevity."
