During her Republican National Convention speech on Wednesday night, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany shared that when she was 21, her doctor let her know that she had tested positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation, giving her a much higher risk of developing breast cancer.
McEnany said her mother also tested positive for the mutation, and chose to have a preventative double mastectomy. In 2018, McEnany decided to do the same, and said this almost completely eliminated her chance of breast cancer. Shortly after her surgery, at what she described as being one of her "most difficult times," one of the first calls she received was from Ivanka Trump. Soon after, President Trump was on the line.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
6 charming homes for the whimsicalFeature Featuring a 1924 factory-turned-loft in San Francisco and a home with custom murals in Yucca Valley
-
Big tech's big pivotOpinion How Silicon Valley's corporate titans learned to love Trump
-
Stacy Horn's 6 favorite works that explore the spectrum of evilFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Anthony Doerr, and more
-
Trump starts term with spate of executive ordersSpeed Read The president is rolling back many of Joe Biden's climate and immigration policies
-
Trump pardons or commutes all charged Jan. 6 riotersSpeed Read The new president pardoned roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot
-
Will Trump's 'madman' strategy pay off?Today's Big Question Incoming US president likes to seem unpredictable but, this time round, world leaders could be wise to his playbook
-
DeSantis appoints Florida's top lawyer to US SenateSpeed Read The state's attorney general, Ashley Moody, will replace Sen. Marco Rubio in the Senate
-
Pam Bondi downplays politics at confirmation hearingSpeed Read Trump's pick for attorney general claimed her Justice Department would not prosecute anyone for political reasons
-
Biden warns of oligarchy in farewell addressSpeed Read The president issued a stark warning about the dangers of unchecked power in the hands of the ultra-wealthy
-
Hegseth boosts hopes for confirmation amid grillingSpeed Read The Senate held confirmation hearings for Pete Hegseth, Trump's Defense Secretary nominee
-
Biden removes Cuba from terrorism blacklistSpeed read The move is likely to be reversed by the incoming Trump administration, as it was Trump who first put Cuba on the terrorism blacklist in his first term
