Novlene Williams-Mills is a survivor.

She is a 3x Olympic Bronze medalist and she helped the Jamaican Track Team win Silver in Rio but she is a Survivor.

According to an article in the Jamaican Observer in 2012, she won the 400m at Jamaica’s national trials in 50.60 seconds within days of being diagnosed with cancer. The Jamaica Observer of January 16 reminds us that a month later Mrs Williams-Mills went to the London Olympics and placed fifth before winning a bronze on the 4x400m relay team.

She followed up on all that by undergoing surgeries and the arduous, tortuous treatment which go hand in hand with cancer. All of that Mrs Williams-Mills had to go through, and yet she found it within her to return to the track, to the rigor of intense, painful training and competition; to overcome all adversity and rebound to being the successful athlete she is today.

A fighter and an inspiration to many women

“I know what it is like for families that have cancer, the financial burden, the many visits to the hospital and the surgical room — just about everything about the burden that it can take on a family.

“In the span of six months, I was in the operating room four times, and after coming out, I forget about what it did to my body, it was the mental part that I couldn’t deal with.”

After helping to anchor the Jamaican relay team in Rio Williams Mills said:

I’m a Living Testimony.

She uses that testimony to inspire other women who have been diagnosed with cancer.  They look to her for inspiration and how to fight.  I read that she sends pictures to Breast Cancer fundraisers and people kiss the picture.  This is so inspiring and shows what a true champion does.

Rio Results

4×400 Relay:  Silver