Jim Wilson: "I lost my six-year-old to a brain tumour and now I've lost my big sister."

“She was fearless and we’re very, very proud of her.”

Those were Jim Wilson’s first words about his trailblazing big sister, Rebecca, who lost her battle with breast cancer overnight. She was just 54 years old.

Speaking on air with Ben Fordham for 2GB’s Sydney Live radio show on Friday afternoon, the Channel Seven sports presenter was candid about what has been “a very difficult few years” for the Wilson family.

“I lost my six-year-old to a brain tumour, and I just lost my sister,” the father-of-three said, explaining his focus would now be solely on his mum Mary-Lou, Rebecca’s partner John ‘Harto’ Hartigan and her two boys, Tom and Will.

“We celebrate Bec,” the loving brother, four years his sister’s junior, said.

“Professionally we had a ball together. Gee, we had some differing opinions, and we had some barnies – whether that be around the Christmas table or on air – we had very different professional opinions.

“But I had a huge amount of respective for my sister. She went to places and took on yarns where others would shirk and cower off. She had a lot of fun and a lot of ticker.”

Despite only being in their early twenties, Jim said his resilient nephews “have been absolutely unbelievable” over the last 24 hours, making him “a proud uncle”.

“We’re a strong family, but [cancer’s] an insidious illness,” he said, adding: “It impacts on so many lives and we’ve certainly been impacted by cancer.

“… You know, mum’s 77 and now she’s lost a grandson and a daughter. It’s amazing the number of people you meet in the streets who have been impacted by disabilities, or cancer, or stroke.”

In 2010 Jim’s son, Sam, lost his battle with brain cancer. He was just six years old. But while his little fighter might be gone, Jim says he will always be a father of three boys.

“He’s a big part of my life, just like my eldest boy Joey and Darcy (his wife’s son), who I love as my own. I have three boys, it’s just desperately sad I have lost one of them. He will live on with me forever and a day. He’s irreplaceable,” he told The Daily Telegraph in 2012.

When it comes to Bec – his inspiration both at the work desk and away from it – Jim was both measured and loving.

“She fought until the end. When she passed this morning, she was at ease, and at peace.”

Her choice to fight the battle privately despite living much of her life in the public eye was part-and-parcel with who Bec was as a human being, Jim said.

“I’m probably one of her best mates, and we’re very close, but she was a closed shop with me on it. She just decided to do it in her time, and I think that’s every individual’s choice.

“It’s the same with the treatment she undertook, every individual is different. Certainly, she tackled it, but being Bec and being so strong, she thought she would beat it.”

While Bec beat stage two breast cancer a few years ago, the disease came back even more aggressively in the middle of this year, at stage four this time.

“It was only after the Rio Olympics we became aware it was very, very serious,” Jim explained.

For now, Jim is determined to honour his “tough” sister.

“She would take on issues and stories where other journalists wouldn’t go, and from a professional perspective and from a personal perspective that’s how I’ll remember her.

“She had a tough front, but she was a softie. She had her vulnerabilities and she was human.

“She had my back, mate, and from the moment she walked me out the hospital when I was born she has [had it].

“It’s a very sad day, but I’m lucky enough to have wonderful people around me.”

It was only at the very end of the eight-minute-long interview that Jim welled up with tears.

“I thank everyone for their beautiful messages. I’ve lost a great mate, and I’ve lost a sister.”

Jim Wilson has asked that anyone who wants to tribute Rebecca Wilson make a donation to The Nelune Foundation, which aims to support underprivileged cancer patients in the community.