Susie Wiles Describes Working Through Chemotherapy as White House Chief of Staff

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has gone public with details of undergoing chemotherapy while continuing to run day-to-day operations for President Donald Trump, describing a battle with breast cancer that she says consumed her thoughts even while she slept.

In an op-ed published Sunday in USA Today, Wiles wrote that questions about treatment, test results and what might come next could overtake even a strong mind. “Fighting cancer is brutal and unrelenting,” she wrote, adding that at times those questions overtook her own.

Wiles said some days she poured her strength into fighting the disease itself, while on others simply getting out of bed, getting dressed and going to work was its own test. “Most days, I carried the full weight of both,” she wrote.

She said work gave her a purpose beyond appointments, scans and side effects. “Cancer can make your world very small,” Wiles wrote, saying 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.

The treatment affected her stamina, mobility and, at times, her focus, she said, and she was not always able to be everywhere she wanted to be. Colleagues inside and outside the White House stepped in to help, while her two daughters, extended family, friends and her medical team carried her through the illness.

Wiles was careful to note that working through treatment would not be the right choice, or even possible, for everyone. For her, she wrote, the job helped her hold on to a sense of identity beyond the disease.

She said that after successful surgery, pathology results showed no residual cancer, and that she now faces the work of rebuilding what the treatment took from her. “Chemotherapy is, in a word, a b—-,” she wrote.

In a post on X on Sunday, Wiles said she rarely writes about herself but wanted to share what it was like to fight cancer while continuing a job she loves.

“Cancer tried to make my world smaller. I was determined not to let it.”

She said she hoped the account could offer strength to someone still fighting the disease.

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.

Trump praised Wiles during her treatment, saying in a prerecorded tribute in May 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 the ordeal.

For others going through treatment, Wiles offered a message of hope. “Cancer does not have to take away who you are,” she wrote, adding that life beyond the disease for her includes serving Trump and the country and being a mother, grandmother and friend.

Her daughter, Katie Wiles, responded to the post 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.”