THE Bachelor Australia star Megan Marx has given an update on her battle with a degenerative brain condition that has left her “grieving” her “unlived life”.
Megan, 36, was diagnosed with rare Spinocerebellar ataxia in 2023 which targets the part of the brain that controls coordination as well as the spinal cord.
There’s currently no cure for the disease, which affects one to five people in every 100,000 and can impact vision, speech and mobility.
In an essay for Mamamia, Megan wrote: “There is a kind of grief that rarely earns a name. It is not the grief of death, nor even the grief that follows a diagnosis. It is the grief of the life we imagined we might live, and the slow recognition that it will not arrive.”
The reality star said the ever-widening gap between her new reality of survival and the hopes and dreams she harboured should be mourned in a bid to stop feelings of shame developing.
She wrote: “The grief of what-if is often waved away. Be realistic, we’re told. Accept what is. But denial carries its own risk.
“If regret is untreated, if it hardens into identity, it becomes corrosive. It ceases to be grief and becomes a creed. That is where the damage quietly deepens.
“Pretending nothing was lost binds us to shame; naming it allows movement. It challenges the belief that worth is measured by productivity, consistency, or visibility. Survival, when understood honestly, is not failure; it is a form of adaptation.”
Megan said she’s stripped away all unnecessary elements of her life to focus on what she can still do.
She remains active, spending time outdoors when she can, camping, windsurfing and walking her dog on the beach.
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Creative activities also feed her soul, from playing the guitar to painting and reading and allow her a certain structure.
The star had an important message for other people living with chronic illnesses: “do not let your grief be dismissed.”
She continued: “Do not bypass it for the comfort of others. Mourn what was lost, but remember what is still left of your life. In doing so, you clear space not for fantasy, but for a life that is honest, inhabitable, and still your own.”
Heartbreakingly, Megan said the day will come when she will no longer be able to talk, walk, or swallow.
She also laments how experimental therapies that could help her condition, like stem cell treatments, are far removed from what she can afford.
Despite this, she has ruled out ever crowdfunding.
Selflessly, she wrote: “I am acutely aware that there are people whose need is far more immediate than mine.”
Megan found fame on The Bachelor in 2016, becoming the first contestant to refuse a rose when offered by Richie Strahan.
She said the situation didn’t feel right and she went on to form a relationship with fellow female contestant Tiffany Scanlon.
Speaking afterwards, she said: “I got along with Richie really well, we had great banter… but for me, it was more the environment of the show that wasn’t very conducive to love.”
Following The Bachelor, she appeared on Bachelor in Paradise and The Challenge Australia.