Betty Cuthbert’s best friend Rhonda Gillam reveals the final moments of one of our nation’s finest athletes

BETTY Cuthbert’s best friend Rhonda Gillam was by her side just before she passed away last night, after a long battle with multiple sclerosis.

Betty Cuthbert and her best friend Rhonda Gillam. Picture: Supplied

EXCLUSIVE

FOR more than 26 years, Rhonda Gillam cared for Betty Cuthbert.

And she was by her side last night, just seconds before Australia’s original Golden Girl passed away aged 79, after a long and painful battle with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Ms Gillam was with Cuthbert in the Mandurah nursing home in Western Australia last night, which had cared for the athlete for several years.

She was holding her hand and providing her comfort.

“It’s sad but it’s a wonderful relief for Betty,” said Ms Gillam.

Former Australian athlete Betty Cuthbert with friend Rhonda Gillam. Picture: News Corp Australia

“The MS went into second stage. She had massive seizures.”

Ms Gillam told News Corp Australia of how something was telling her to leave the room.

“I sat there for ages just loving on her,” she said. “And then I just kissed her on the side of the head and said, ‘Jesus loves you’.”

“Something was telling me to go. So I did. And as I left, (the nurses) worked out she died as I left,” said Ms Gillam.

Former athlete & MS sufferer Betty Cuthbert at her Perth home with carer Rhonda Gillam in 1998. Picture: News Corp Australia

After taking the world by storm, winning three gold medals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when she was just 18, Cuthbert then won gold again at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

Ten years later, she was diagnosed with MS, a disease which became increasingly debilitating.

Although Cuthbert lived independently for many years, supported by Ms Gillam who would drop by daily to deliver meals and help around the house, in 2009 a doctor advised Cuthbert’s needs were too great for her friend, a married mother-of-three, to handle alone.

Former Olympian athlete Betty Cuthbert with her carer Rhonda Gillam at her testimonial luncheon in 1996. Picture: News Corp Australia

She spent the last years of her life in a nursing home, bed-bound, and in recent years was barely able to move her head or speak.

Ms Gillam was well-known by nursing staff for her visits; she would often sit by Cuthbert’s side, holding her hand and gently speaking into her ear for hours.

“I believed in a miracle,” said Ms Gillam, a religious woman who prayed daily, and genuinely believed a higher-power would one day restore Cuthbert’s ability to walk.

“But it’s a huge relief for Betty. I’ve got a big job to do now,” she said, who will be organising the funeral with the help of the athlete’s estranged family.