Marea Burke is the wife of iconic Australian media personality, Don Burke; the pair has been married for over 50 years, have two children and two grandchildren together.
She may have a kept a low profile while working with her well-known husband Don, but Marea Burke managed to keep her hands full running the couple’s very successful Media company, CTC Productions.
In an interview with A Current Affair, Don stated that while he was the show pony for Burke’s Backyard and his wife “organised the whole thing, dealt with the staff, turned vague ideas into reality.”
They gave a rare insight into their private lives in 2015, when they spoke to ACA about Marea’s health battles.
Don and Marea sat down with A Current Affair host Tracey Grimshaw revealing to her and the country the incredibly difficult battle that they have been fighting for over 15-years.
Don and his wife Marea in 2014.
Don’s wife with Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM). It is an abnormal collection of blood vessels, like varicose veins, sitting on top of her brain – when untreated it can be fatal.
Marea first noticed a problem with her eyesight back in 2000, the height of Don’s fame as Australia’s favourite gardener.
Marea underwent a nine-hour operation to remove the tumour but it changed their lives forever.
Don remembers how “totally unrecognisable” his wife was after her surgery.
She couldn’t stand up, she couldn’t walk, she spoke in slurred words,” Don said.
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During this time she had a minor stroke, and developed epilepsy from it.
Marea had just got her life on track after having faced such a huge health hurdle, but in 2013 they were rocked with more life-threatening illness.
She had an immediate mastectomy on her left breast, after discovering she had a grade two form of breast cancer, which Don said they got to very early.
Marea maintains a positive outlook on life.
“Just get on with things,” she said.
“I suppose we are closer in that I need him to be there in case I do fall down the steps because Don does a lot now, that perhaps he wouldn’t have.”
