The 54-year-old won many awards throughout a sterling career with several media outlets including the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph.

She was an ever-present fixture of the Australian sporting landscape and featured in several ABC programs and commentated on several Olympic Games campaigns.     

"Courage has always been a significant part of her DNA, no less in her desperate battle against her insidious disease," husband John Hartigan and sons Tom and Will said in a statement.

"Rebecca kept knowledge of her illness a closely guarded secret.

"She did so to limit their suffering."

Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones, who worked with Wilson in the past, was brought to tears on air as he spoke of his fallen ex-colleague.  

"Bec was a force of nature, in a way," he said.

"She was brilliant, she was unsparing."

Image: Daily Telegraph.