Above: Novlene Williams-Mills (centre)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaican sprinter Novlene Williams-Mills won a bronze medal in London last summer despite dealing with breast cancer, she revealed in an interview with the Daily Mail.

Williams-Mills learned of the diagnosis just weeks before the Olympics in London, where she won a bronze medal in the women’s 4x400M relay. Her medal helped Jamaica to its best-ever showing in an Olympic Games.

And only her husband was aware of the diagnosis.

Her final operation was in January, according to the Daily Mail.

While she said she knew she would “get ‘some heat'” for not disclosing the illness, she told the Mail she now was emphasizing the importance of early detection.

“I’m still one of the top 400M runners in the world and I want to see what I can do,” said Williams Mills, who plans to run at the World Championships in Moscow.