Susie Wiles Describes Working Through Chemotherapy While Running Trump’s White House

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has publicly detailed the physical and emotional strain of undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer while continuing to run the day-to-day operations of the Trump administration’s White House staff.

In an op-ed published Sunday in USA Today, Wiles wrote that the disease occupied her thoughts from the moment she woke up, and sometimes even while she slept. “Fighting cancer is brutal and unrelenting,” she wrote, describing how questions about treatment, test results and what might come next could overtake even a strong mind. At times, she acknowledged, they overtook hers.

Wiles 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 test. “Most days, I carried the full weight of both,” she wrote.

She said continuing to work gave her a purpose beyond appointments, scans and side effects. “Cancer can make your world very small,” Wiles wrote, adding that she pushed herself to stay focused on the people who depended on her even as she knew others might question whether she could still lead effectively.

The treatment affected her stamina, mobility and, at times, her focus, and she said she could not always 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 helped carry 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 who she was beyond the disease.

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

A message for others still fighting

In a post on X Sunday, 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.

Cancer does not have to take away who you are.

Wiles announced on Sept. 16 that she was cancer free after receiving clear pathology results following an appointment at the Mayo Clinic. She had first disclosed her early-stage breast cancer diagnosis in March.

President 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 the ordeal.

She wrote that life beyond the disease includes continuing to serve Trump and the country while being a mother, grandmother and friend.

Her daughter, Katie Wiles, responded to the op-ed 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.”