Bradman was married to Jessie Martha Menzies for 65 years, until Jessie died in 1999. Bradman said on many occasions how important his wife was, once saying "I would never have achieved what I achieved without Jessie". Don and Jessie Bradman had 3 children, but family life was difficult. Their first child died young in 1936. Their second child (John, born in 1939) caught a serious virus disease called polio. and their third child (Shirley, born 1941) had cerebral palsy since birth.