Former Patient Introduces First Lady At Children’s Hospital Event
When Caoilinn McLane walked back into Children’s National Hospital last December, she wasn’t returning as a patient. Instead, the Virginia Military Institute first-year cadet, once treated there for an aggressive form of leukemia, stood at the front of the room to introduce First Lady Melania Trump at her annual holiday visit.
“It was nice to go back and not have to go to the clinic, or know that you’re staying for several months,” McLane said in an interview with The News-Gazette this week. “The atrium is a lot prettier when you’re just visiting.”
She knew the building well from her myriad visits and stays over the past several years. McLane was first diagnosed with acute my- eloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer, at age 15. After an initial round of treatment, she relapsed about a year later — a return that required more intensive chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant.
“AML is super aggressive, so when it comes back, they’re like, ‘Alright, let’s just wipe it out,’” McLane said. “That second time was even more brutal than the first.”
Her treatment stretched into early 2020, colliding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Medication shortages complicated care, and as an immunocompromised teenager, McLane faced the added fear of undergoing treatment as hospitals braced for a virus doctors were still struggling to understand. With no single standard protocol available, she was forced to research clinical trials on her own and choose one without direct guidance from physicians, a decision that would shape the rest of her recovery.
By the time McLane underwent a bone marrow transplant, doctors would not proceed until tests showed no detectable cancer remaining, a threshold she described as its own grueling ordeal. She has technically been in remission since December 2020, but recovery did not mean an end to treatment. The transplant process itself took nearly a year, followed by a cascade of late-term side effects that reshaped her body long after the cancer was gone.
“My last treatment-related surgery was about six months before I came to VMI,” McLane said. “I had a total hip replacement and before that, four other major joint surgeries.”
Those physical consequences followed her into adulthood, even as she returned to what she describes as “normal life.” While the cancer is in remission — “So far, so good,” McLane says — the impact of years of chemotherapy, radiation, and transplants remains ongoing. That’s a reality she carried with her when she chose to enroll at VMI, despite its reputation as one of the most physically demanding undergraduate environments in the country.
“I think VMI is probably one of the hardest things most students do in their life,” McLane said, “and it’s definitely one of the hardest things I’m going to do.”
She is currently part of the way through VMI’s “Rat Line,” the intense first-year initiation for new cadets, and she believes that the mental fortitude she gained through her experience with cancer is what’s gotten her this far.
“I’ve been mentally prepared for when it’s hard, when it feels like too much, and you just have to keep going,” she said. “Physically, that’s when I struggle … but because of the mental, I just keep pushing. That’s all you can really do.”
That resilience was on display Dec. 5, when McLane returned to Children’s National Hospital, not for treatment, but to introduce First Lady Melania Trump during her annual holiday visit. The moment marked a return to a building that once defined her daily life, now entered in a very different role.
This was actually their second in-person meeting. McLane first met Trump in 2017 during the dedication of the hospital’s Bunny Mellon Healing Garden, where McLane spoke as a patient. Over the years, Trump continued to keep in touch, including phone calls during McLane’s treatment. When McLane received word this fall that she had been asked to return for a holiday event, she said she felt both surprised and honored.
“I was really touched that she remembered me,” McLane said. “It felt really special, like I did a good job, and she wanted me to come back.”
McLane’s impression of Trump contrasts with the First Lady’s often quiet and reserved public persona. Based on her experiences over multiple visits, McLane described Trump as attentive and sincere in her interactions with patients and their families.
“Every time I’ve seen her, she’s spent a lot of time talking one-on-one with patients and families,” McLane said. “I don’t really think she’s there just for the photo op. She cares, and she’s really sweet with all of the kids.”
This visit itself was smaller and more intimate than past events, McLane said, with Trump reading a holiday story before speaking one-on-one with patients and their families. McLane introduced the First Lady, then joined the group for photos and conversation.
The event underscored how far she had come since her years as a patient. “The whole thing has gone almost full circle,” she said. “I haven’t graduated VMI yet, I’m not even done with the rat line, but this was the goal I had. To go to VMI and still do everything I wanted, achieve everything I wanted to achieve, and now I’m actively doing it … So I felt really proud to be back and be able to represent VMI and see how far I had come.”
Now at home in Aldi, Va., for winter furlough, McLane is focused on rest and rejuvenation, something in short supply during the daily grind of VMI’s rat year. With only weeks left before the Rat Line’s possible conclusion, she says the break has allowed her to rebuild her strength ahead of the final stretch.
“I’ve really been trying to take the time to recover physically and get some extra sleep,” McLane said. “But also to hit the gym and make sure I’m running and improving my fitness, so when I get back, I’m ready for whatever it takes.”
While her journey at VMI is still unfolding, McLane said the lessons that carried her through years of treatment continue to guide her now, to push forward even when it’s difficult.
“I knew it was going to be hard,” she said. “But I signed up for it anyway.”
