White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is now cancer-free. She joined the ‘ranks’ of women who keep working during breast cancer treatment.
· Yahoo HealthWhite House chief of staff Susie Wiles is "cancer free," she announced on X on Sept. 16, 2026. "Some personal news I'm grateful to share. After a medical appointment at the Mayo Clinic this week, my pathology results came back clear," she explained.
Wiles was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in March and told the New York Times that her prognosis was "strong." Wiles did not disclose at the time what treatment she would undergo, but said it would last several weeks — during which time she planned to continue working. Noting that one in eight American women develops breast cancer at some point in their lives, Wiles posted on X at the time: "Every day, these women continue to raise their families, go to work and serve their communities with strength and determination. I now join their ranks."
A breast cancer diagnosis is life-altering, but Wiles's comments highlighted the progress that's been made in recent years. Breast cancer is now detected at Stage 0 or 1 — before it has spread — in the majority of cases. Survival rates have risen dramatically, but "the treatments we use to treat early-stage breast cancer have become more tailored" and less disruptive to women's lives, Dr. Lynn Dengel, a University of Virginia surgical oncologist, told Yahoo in March.
"Because [Wiles] was taking care of her health [and getting screened], not only will her prognosis be better, but it will probably minimize what treatment she has to go through and will benefit her work-life and overall balance," Dengel said. She added that most of her patients are diagnosed early and can continue to work while undergoing breast cancer treatment, reducing the financial burden and overall disruption to their lives.
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Wiles was diagnosed at age 68 — slightly older than the median age (62) when most women learn they have breast cancer. More than 380,000 American women are diagnosed with some form of breast cancer each year, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Breast cancer remains the most common form of cancer among women in the U.S., except for skin cancers. And rates are rising. But there's good news: More women are surviving the disease. Treatments have also improved, becoming tolerable enough that many women still work, as Wiles intends to do. Here's what to know about the disease, why rates are rising and how women can reduce their risks.
Living and working with breast cancer
Thanks to earlier detection and improved treatments, more women are able to keep working while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. That's beneficial for their financial stability and also for their mental health. According to a Pfizer survey, 77% of women with breast cancer felt that being able to continue working helped their recovery process. Beyond the income, they said they wanted to feel productive, "normal" and fulfilled. Working, as Wiley plans to, can contribute to a sense of purpose and "optimism," says Dengel.
Increasingly, it's doable for women to maintain their jobs while undergoing breast cancer treatment. When breast cancer is caught early, treatment may entail only surgery, or surgery and a hormone blocker, minimizing the downtime needed compared with chemotherapy or radiation, Dengel said. Even for patients who need more intensive treatment, there are now targeted therapies that don't have the same widespread and grueling side effects as systemic ones, such as chemo, she added.
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Earlier, more tailored and less intense treatments "have less of a burden on patients from a time, health and financial perspective," Dengel said. That's particularly important when more women under 60 are developing breast cancer, and more women over 50 are still working or have other major responsibilities. "Most of our patients will either be caretakers for young children or taking care of elderly parents and/or also working full-time at the time of their diagnosis," Dengel added.
It's a win for the U.S. economy too, as it allows the growing number of women — including relatively young women — being diagnosed with breast cancer to remain in the workforce.
Breast cancer is common — and becoming more so
For the past several years, the number of new breast cancer cases has been rising by about 1% per year, according to the ACS. The increase is a bit steeper for women under age 50, climbing by 1.4% annually. The exact reasons for this accelerated rise in younger people are hard to pinpoint because "it's probably a little bit of everything that's contributing" to the increase, Dengel said.
Experts say several factors may be driving the rise. More younger women are carrying excess weight, and many are having children later — or not at all. Carrying a full-term pregnancy and breastfeeding can lower breast cancer risk because they cause lasting changes in breast tissue that make cells less likely to become cancerous.
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But scientists "have not found that you can explain these [increasing] trends by looking at fertility patterns" alone, Dr. Mary Beth Terry, a professor of epidemiology and environmental sciences at Columbia University and Silent Spring Institute, specializing in breast cancer, previously told Yahoo. Terry, who studies this phenomenon, said that rates are rising even in countries where birth rates remain high and women are not delaying childbirth.
Some researchers suspect that environmental factors, including diets high in ultraprocessed foods and red meat, sedentary lifestyles, hormone exposures (from packaging, food and personal care products), microplastics and air pollution, may also be at play.
Though the increase has been sharper in younger women, those over 50 are still more likely to develop breast cancer overall. Still, there are some promising shifts.
The good news: Breast cancer deaths are declining
More women are surviving breast cancer than ever before. Death rates from the disease have fallen by 44% since 1989, according to the ACS. The five-year survival rate for breast cancer is now 90% in the U.S. Of course, survival odds depend on the stage at which breast cancer is diagnosed. But thanks to screenings — including mammograms, ultrasounds and risk assessment tools — about two-thirds of breast cancer cases are diagnosed in the early, more treatable stages, before the disease has spread.
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Even so, breast cancer remains a major health threat. It's the leading cause of cancer-related death for women worldwide. In the United States, lung cancer causes more deaths in women than breast cancer, and heart disease kills more women than either cancer.
The progress is encouraging. But there's work to be done, including steps you can take to reduce your risk.
Breast cancer risks — and what you can do about them
Several risk factors are out of women's control. Age is the most significant factor for breast cancer, with diagnoses becoming more common as a woman gets older (hence, 62-63 being the average age when a woman develops the disease). Genetic mutations — particularly those to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes — are highly predictive of breast cancer, but most women who get the disease do not carry these changes. Knowing your family history is also important because breast cancer can run in families, even without BRCA mutations.
The longer the time between when a woman starts menstruating and when she has her first child, the greater the risk of breast cancer. But it's important to note that "[delaying] pregnancy is not a carcinogen," Terry previously told Yahoo. You shouldn't choose when (or whether) to have kids just to try to mitigate potential breast cancer risks; the disease is much too complicated to be prevented by that single change.
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However, incorporating a whole suite of healthy habits can collectively reduce your breast cancer risks. A recent study found that lifestyle factors are responsible for about a quarter of the healthy years of life lost to breast cancer worldwide. In other words: Regular exercise, a nutritious diet, not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and minimizing how much alcohol you drink can help prevent breast cancer and improve how you fare if you do develop the disease.
Perhaps the most important step you can take is staying up to date on screenings. Knowing when to get a mammogram can be tricky, noted Dengel, because different medical associations have different guidelines. So it's best to speak to your primary care provider about what the optimal schedule is for you. But in general, women at average risk — those who do not have a family history of the disease, BRCA mutations or other high-risk factors — should get mammograms starting at age 40. They can be done either annually (according to the ACS) or every two years (per the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force), through age 74. The best approach is to talk with your primary care doctor about what makes sense for you, Dengel said, "because every patient is different."