McEnany already had a significant family history of breast cancer when her mother tested positive for the BRCA2 genetic mutation. This meant that her mom had an 84% chance of developing breast cancer and a 27% chance of ovarian cancer. Those odds inspired her mother to undergo a preventative double mastectomy. Her mother’s experience influenced McEnany to get tested for the mutation when she was just 21, and she, too, tested positive. In her 2021 memoir, “For Such a Time as This: My Faith Journey through the White House and Beyond,” McEnany opened up about one thought that gave her pause when choosing to undergo the same surgery her mother had. “I wanted to do it fairly quickly. Within the year, I had hoped. But I was single at the time. I wasn’t sure what dating post-mastectomy would be like, and the unknown worried me,” she explained. This prompted her to put the surgery off. Instead, McEnany was diligent about checkups and monitoring. But, just as her romantic life caused her to postpone the surgery, it had a hand in why she ultimately took the plunge, too.

In 2017, Kayleigh McEnany married her husband Sean Gilmartin. According to her, Gilmartin’s support of her choice to undergo a preventative double mastectomy just like her mom had was the final push she needed. In her book, she explained, ” … he could not have been more reassuring, promising me that he would love me no matter what.” In 2018, just six months after saying “I do,” McEnany had the surgery. According to her, “a big reason I had the confidence to make this decision was because I had found a supportive husband in Sean Gilmartin.”

The procedure gave McEnany the peace of mind she’d lacked since she tested positive for the BRCA2 genetic mutation nearly a decade earlier. She explained, ” … I now live life ‘free of fear and full of hope.’” It’s clear that for McEnany, marrying Gilmartin gave her calmness and confidence in her decision. And, since then, the couple, who has welcomed three children to the family, has been able to live without the fear of McEnany’s previously high odds of getting breast cancer, which are now around zero.