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The Conversation

Factual: Life Stories

Two women from different parts of the world share the stories of their lives

Two women from different parts of the world, united by a common passion, experience or expertise, share the stories of their lives.

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The Conversation: Being Open About Breast Cancer

Magazines & Reviews

Novlene Williams-Mills and Ananda Shankar Jayant

22/05/2017 GMT

Being Open About Breast Cancer

BBC World Service - The Conversation, Being Open About Breast Cancer

An athlete and a dancer exchange their breast cancer experiences

A Jamaican athlete and an Indian dancer, both at the top of their game, discover they have breast cancer.  What happens next?

'I will ride cancer; cancer will not ride me'. An Indian dancer and a Jamaican athlete who were diagnosed with breast cancer at the peak of their physical condition tell Kim Chakanetsa how they got through their treatment by focussing on their passions.  

Novlene Williams-Mills is an exceptional Jamaican sprinter who has competed - and won medals - in four Olympic Games. In 2012, just before the London Olympics, she found out she had breast cancer. Despite the diagnosis, she decided to compete, and helped Jamaica bring home a bronze medal in the 400 metre relay.  Four surgeries later, she is cancer-free. Throughout her treatment Novlene continued to run because when she's on the track, she says all her problems disappear.

Ananda Shankar Jayant is an award-winning Indian dancer and choreographer, known for her talent in two classical dance forms Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. She says as soon as she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, she made a decision that she would not succumb to the 'bogeyman' of cancer, and would keep dancing, even through chemotherapy.  By focussing on her what she loves to do, she says she was able to stay positive.  Now also all-clear, Ananda continues to teach and perform dance, and recently launched a dance app called Natyarambha.

L-Image: Novlene Williams-Mills. Credit: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
R-Image: Ananda Shankar Jayant. Credit: G Muralidhar

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