Behind every athlete is a story and for Monique Murphy, her journey to becoming a Paralympian is one that embodies giving it a go.
On the 29 March 2014, Monique was a university social event when she fell approximately 20 metres from a fifth-floor balcony. She woke from an induced coma one week later in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
"My last memory was going downstairs with one drink in my hand, that's all I was planning on drinking that night," she said.
Monique woke up to see her mum and dad, who are divorced and live in two separate cities in different states, nowhere near Melbourne, she was immediately worried.
She wanted to talk but couldn't as she had breathing tubes in her.
"All I could think was 'I don't remember', I just couldn't find a single memory," Monique said.
"My parents were standing there saying "we love you, we love you, we're here for you, you're okay' and that was confusing because of course, they love me," she said.
Monique managed to get the doctor to bring over a pen and paper to her but she couldn't write because of her injuries. After a long game of what she describes as Pictionary, they figured out she had no recollection of what happened and told her what had occurred a week ago.
Her injuries included a jaw broken in two places, deep laceration to the neck, broken left collarbone, severing 30 percent of her tricep tendon in right arm, three broken ribs, a punctured lung, left knee reconstruction, right tibia platue repair and amputation of the right foot.
One of the hardest parts about learning of her injuries was not knowing what life was going to be like. Doctors told Monique she would be on pain medication for the rest of her life, that she would walk with a limp and it would take two to three years until she was living independently.
"I didn't know what I was working towards," she said.
"To have no clue what life without a limb entails, I've never so much met a person with a prosthetic," Monique said.
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