Speaking at the Republican National Convention, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany touched on how the Trump family supported her through her preventive surgery to avoid developing breast cancer.
McEnany, 32, learned she had a mutation that gave her an 84% risk of developing breast cancer. With a family history of the disease, McEnany chose to undergo a double mastectomy in 2018 after 10 years of routine medical examinations.
“For nearly a decade, I was routinely at Moffitt Cancer Center getting MRIs, ultrasounds, and necessary surveillance,” McEnany said Wednesday night. “During these visits, I crossed paths with brave women battling cancer and fighting through chemotherapy. They were a testament to American strength. They are American heroes.”
After she went through her surgery, McEnany spoke of how she received a call from both Ivanka Trump and President Trump despite only having met the president a few times.
“One of the first calls I received was from Ivanka Trump,” McEnany said. “As I recovered, my phone rang again. It was President Trump calling to check on me. I was blown away. Here was the leader of the free world caring about my circumstance. At the time, I had only met President Trump on a few occasions. But now, I know him well.”
McEnany, who became Trump’s press secretary in April, said the president had called her ahead of her speech, supportive of her decision to tell her personal story.
“I spoke with him several times today, and he told me how proud he was of me for sharing this story,” she said. “The same way President Trump has supported me, he supports you. I see it every day.”
McEnany also touched on how she wants her 9-month-old daughter to grow up in a country run by Trump, where “God is cherished.”
“I want my daughter to grow up in President Donald J. Trump’s America,” she said. “Choosing to have a preventive mastectomy was the hardest decision I had to make. But supporting President Trump, who will protect my daughter and our children’s future, was the easiest.”
