White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is publicly describing the strain of undergoing breast cancer treatment while running the White House staff, saying the disease consumed her thoughts from the moment she woke and sometimes followed her into sleep.
In an op-ed published Sunday, Wiles wrote that chemotherapy tested her stamina, mobility and focus as she continued to lead the staff for President Donald Trump. She said some days she poured her strength into fighting the disease, while on others simply getting out of bed, getting dressed and going to work was its own trial.
«Fighting cancer is brutal and unrelenting,» Wiles wrote, adding that questions about treatment, test results and what might come next could overwhelm even a strong mind. At times, she acknowledged, they overwhelmed hers.
Wiles said the job gave her a purpose beyond appointments, scans and side effects. «Cancer can make your world very small,» she wrote, explaining that she pushed herself to stay focused on the people who depended on her even as she knew some might question whether she could still lead effectively.
She also made clear that working through treatment would not be right or possible for everyone. For her, she said, the role helped preserve a sense of identity beyond the illness.
The treatment limited her ability to be everywhere she wanted to be, and she credited colleagues inside and outside the White House, along with her two daughters, extended family, friends and medical team, with helping carry her through.
Wiles announced on Sept. 16 that she was cancer free after receiving clear pathology results following an appointment at the Mayo Clinic. She had disclosed her early-stage breast cancer diagnosis in March.
After successful surgery, pathology showed no residual cancer, she wrote. She said she now faces the work of rebuilding what treatment took from her, describing chemotherapy in blunt terms as a difficult ordeal.
Trump praised Wiles during her treatment, saying in a prerecorded May tribute that she was winning her cancer battle. Wiles thanked him for his kindness and compassion and credited her family, friends, colleagues and doctors with helping her through.
In a post on X, Wiles said she rarely writes about herself but wanted to share what it was like to fight cancer while continuing to do a job she loves. «Cancer tried to make my world smaller. I was determined not to let it,» she wrote, adding that she hoped her account could offer strength to someone still fighting the disease.
She offered a message of hope to others in treatment: «Cancer does not have to take away who you are.» For her, she said, life beyond the disease includes serving Trump and the country and being a mother, grandmother and friend.
One of her daughters, Katie Wiles, responded to her mother's account on X. «A strong woman isn't loud in her strength; she's steady and unshakable,» she wrote. «You are our champion. So incredibly proud of you, Mom.»