We’re a little older now. A little calmer, a little more grateful.

We’re a little more likely to look after our health and count our blessings.

We are six people who over the decades you have come to know.

Six people who love Birmingham television and have enjoyed the broadcasting business for a combined 253 years.

Six people who have something more in common.

We are six people who are cancer survivors.

Six people who are on the move.

“I rise at 5:30 every morning,” longtime TV news anchor Pam Huff told me. Pam worked in broadcasting for 50 years, 47 of those years in Birmingham (20 years at WVTM 13 and 27 years at ABC 33/40).

“I’m not going to let grass grow under my feet,” said Pam, now retired. “I’m on the go all the time! I’ve been traveling with my husband Bill, and I’m more involved in my church.

“But while I’m busy, I have learned to slow down for a second or two,” Pam chuckled.

“I keep moving,” ABC 33/40 anchor Brenda Ladun told me. While Brenda is still working after 43 years in the business, it’s smelling the flowers that is important to her.

“My husband Bill always serves up my coffee in the morning,” Brenda told me. “We work in our herb garden and exercise at home before I go to work. I’ve run five marathons and seven half-marathons since my surgeries.”

“I try to do about 60 minutes of aerobic exercise a day,” legendary TV meteorologist Jerry Tracey told me. After 48 years in television — 35 years at WVTM 13 in Birmingham — Jerry retired on Dec. 31, 2022. Travel with his wife, Kathy, their two children and four grandchildren keeps Jerry moving.

“I’m over in Atlanta,” JP Dice said as he called while waiting on an airplane part. JP, who has been a TV meteorologist for 30 years, now works part-time at WBRC 6 News in Birmingham after a long run as the station’s chief meteorologist. JP has a full life, as he’s a corporate pilot, an aircraft broker, and he helps his wife Aliece working with Keller Williams Realty. “As I get older, I have realized that life is short,” said JP. “I love flying and I love meteorology, so I have the best of both worlds.”

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 39 years,” said Sheldon Haygood. Sheldon has worked at WBRC 6 News for 31 of his 39 years in TV. For years he was a sports anchor, and today he’s a morning news anchor. Sheldon is always on the move. He’s a lifelong exercise and workout freak. He gets his heart pumping every day with 20 minutes of cardio and follows that up with 25 minutes of weight lifting.

And then there is, uh, me. After leaving TV news about 18 months ago, I’ve been on the go with several projects, including becoming a partner in a new production company. Golf and pickleball and fishing keep me busy and blessed. It’s hard to believe that a 43-year TV career (including 30 years as the sports director at WBRC 6 News and four years as the morning anchor at WVTM 13) is in the books.

Local TV news is a tough business. Oh, it’s not as demanding as being a teacher or a construction worker. It’s not as hard as being a police officer or a firefighter or a doctor or a nurse. But it is a profession that requires long hours, and has the pressures of deadlines and expectations. That’s why good folks like Pam, Brenda, Jerry, JP and Sheldon have my admiration.

It was just three years ago when she was diagnosed. She was 69, still anchoring TV news.

“One of the first people I told about contracting breast cancer was Brenda,” Pam Huff told me.

It was triple-negative breast cancer, aggressive and invasive. Treatment was immediate, as Pam underwent 10 rounds of chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and then 33 rounds of radiation.

And just news anchors do, Pam worked during much of her treatment, anchoring the evening news on ABC 33/40.

“I got through it by the grace of God,” Brenda Ladun told me. It was 2001, and Brenda, then and now a main news anchor at ABC 33/40, was the mother of young children. Brooks was 7, Gabriel was 4 and Garrett was 18 months. Brenda had a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery, followed by chemo.

She was 39 years old.

“When doctors went in during surgery, they found more cancer,” said Brenda. “It was like a pellet gun had spread tumors. I asked God, ‘Now what?’”

What Brenda Ladun did was fight. “I told my sons their mommy might not be there for them at all hours, but God would be there for them,” Brenda said. “It was difficult. I was unable to hold my 18-month-old because of the surgery. I wondered if I would ever work again.”

It was September of 2019, and Jerry Tracey’s phone rang. Jerry was 66 years old and the chief meteorologist at WVTM 13. “My doctor started the conversation by saying, ‘Jerry, I hate to bring you the news over the phone,’” Jerry told me.

The news was not good.

“I was having a routine procedure to check my prostate, and that’s when they found the cancer,” said Jerry.

“With prostate cancer, everything is about the PSA,” he added. “While my PSA was low at 2.1, it had doubled from months before.”

Jerry had 28 radiation treatments, continuing to work through many of those treatments. The treatments ended in the spring 2020, just as the COVID pandemic arrived.

It was August of 2012 when meteorologist JP Dice saw a small amount of blood in his stool. “I thought it was nothing, but it continued to gnaw at me,” JP told me. “I decided to have a colonoscopy.

“When I woke up, I was told I had a 2.5 centimeter mass in my colon,” added JP. The chief meteorologist at WBRC 6 News (Fox 6) underwent surgery in December of 2012 and then had chemotherapy.

“That chemo was a total butt kicker,” chuckled JP.

I thought I was on the fast track to TV fame. It was 1987, and I was a 29-year-old TV sports anchor at WJXT TV 4 in Jacksonville, Florida. I had been married for three years and sported bushy hair and a Ron Burgundy mustache. The pain in my side wasn’t going away as I reported on the Florida Gators in March Madness.

It was testicular cancer. I was hit hard with radiation and chemo. I lost 20 pounds along with the bushy hair and the mustache, and I wondered if my TV career was over.

I peered around a corner in my house one day and saw my wife weeping. I wondered if I was letting her down. The chemotherapy knocked me down.

It was 2007, and Brenda Ladun wasn’t done fighting her fight. Breast cancer returned, and once again the ABC 33/40 anchor was in a fight for her life. Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation all over again. As she fought back, Brenda found she had more inner strength than she imagined.

She kept the faith and took baby steps along the way. As time marched on, so did Brenda Ladun. She took walks and later jogs. She took dance classes and exercised.

“I told cancer, ‘Take that! I’m stronger than you think,’” Brenda said.

Cancer is cruel. And while it has taken too many of our loved ones, my five friends have reminded me of how resolve and fight and getting back up when you are knocked down inspires us all.

Pam and Brenda and Jerry and JP and Sheldon have fought their fights, and for decades they have been loyal public servants. A story from JP is an example of that fight.

It was January of 2013, and JP Dice had just returned to work at WBRC 6 News a few weeks after his surgery for colon cancer. The station was in live, continuous coverage as snow was falling. Suddenly, JP felt light headed. He turned to a fellow meteorologist and said, “You’re going to have to take over for just a bit.”

JP Dice hopped in his car and drove slowly down the icy Red Mountain road next to the statue of Vulcan, headed to his oncologist’s office where he received fluids and a steroid shot.

“When I returned to the bottom of the hill on Valley Avenue, the snow and ice prevented me from driving up the mountain,” JP told me. “I parked at the bottom of the hill and started walking.”

JP Dice walked all the way up that hill, past Vulcan and into the TV station, where he removed his jacket, put on a clip-on microphone and continued his live weather coverage.

TV news anchors are just like you. They experience joys and heartaches, good times and bad. Pam, Brenda, Jerry, JP, Sheldon and I remain blessed to be your neighbors – neighbors grateful to be cancer survivors.

Pam Huff will rise early every morning this week, proud for her 50-year television career, her husband Bill, her children and her grandchildren.

Her message is inspiring: “If I was to contract cancer again, would I fight as hard as I have the last three years? You better believe it,” said Pam.

“I would fight it with every breath of my being. For anyone who wants to give up, I say, ‘Ya gotta try!’”

Brenda Ladun will start her week with a cup of coffee and smiles from her husband, longtime TV executive Bill Ballard. They were married last Dec. 23.

“You won’t believe this, but cancer is one of the best things that ever happened to me,” said Brenda. “It made me appreciate the little things, like walking across a rug and not falling. It made me stronger than ever.”

Jerry Tracey may be taking a walk today. He’s also into ancestry, currently studying his family tree that dates back to 1893 in Ireland.

Jerry’s message? “There are many ways to attack prostate cancer today,” he said. He urges men to get regular prostate exams.

There’s a good chance JP Dice will be flying his plane today, that is unless his wife has him running to an open house. JP is happy to share his story in hopes that we all get scheduled colonoscopies.

And his lesson learned? “I’m so much more appreciative of the little things in life,” JP said. “The things we get caught up in and mad at are really silly.”

Sheldon Haygood continues his work as a morning anchor at WBRC 6 news. He stays busy simply keeping track of his family. He and his wife, Shelby, have 6 kids — Hannah, Harper, Harrison, Hayes, Austin and Steven.

“I’m lucky,” said Sheldon, who is healthy today despite still being treated for Crohn’s disease. “My family as well as my TV family were absolutely amazing while I was going through tough times.”

And me? Thirty-eight years after I wondered if cancer would end my TV career, I remain healthy and happy and blessed. The Ron Burgundy mustache is gone, but I’m still moving. In fact, I’ll be taking my son golfing today. I hope to hit ‘em straight.

We’re a little older now. A little calmer, a little more grateful. We’re a little more likely to look after our health and count our blessings.

We are six people who over the decades you have come to know.

Six people who as Birmingham TV anchors have come into your home and enjoyed broadcasting careers for a combined 253 years.

Six people who are cancer survivors.

Six people who are on the move.

Rick Karle, who writes a weekly ‘Good News’ story, is a 25-time Emmy winner and a 43-year veteran of broadcast news who has lived and worked in Alabama for 35 years. You can find his work on Facebook at Rick Karle Good News. Send your story suggestions to: [email protected]