Charles Pelkey

Charles Pelkey is a Wyoming attorney who has recently begun the transition to a new career after spending more than 25 years as a journalist, serving as a radio host, newspaper reporter, press secretary to former GOP Senate Whip Alan Simpson and as an editor at the cycling magazine VeloNews.

He was diagnosed with an invasive ductal carcinoma in July of 2011 and underwent an unsuccessful lumpectomy, followed by a double mastectomy the following month. He received chemotherapy for five months before a relatively rare and unexpected cardiac side effect from the chemotherapy drug Taxol prompted his oncologist to end treatments about a month early. His heart appears to be none the worse for wear and his hair and eyebrows have finally grown back. Having lost his magazine job on the same day his diagnosis was confirmed, Pelkey is now practicing law on a (more than) full-time basis in Laramie, Wyo., where he lives with his wife of 26 years, Diana, and their two children, 18-year-old Philip and 12-year-old Annika.