As a child, Monique had the dream to represent Australia at the Olympics and at the Australian Championships, the then 22-year-old, raced in have favourite event the 400m freestyle in a time less than a second away from the world record.

She secured a place on the Australian Paralympic Team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. 

Monique competed in a total of four events, and on the eighth day, she swam in her pet event, the 400m Freestyle, where she won silver. 

"There is a great photo of me when I see the number two next to my name, I think that sums it all up," she said.

"I knew I was capable of it but I knew it was still going to take a pheromonal amount of effort."

Monique relocated to the Gold Coast in 2017 but it wasn't a good match for her with the coach having a primary focus on weight loss. After the World Championships were canceled due to a devastating earthquake in Mexico City, the Dolphins swam at the 2017 Para Swimming Canadian Open when it became mentally debilitating. 

When she got behind the blocks, she realised how little confidence in her herself as she had been torn down.

"After the race, my coach on the team Harley Connolly sat down with me and told me to pack my bags and move up to him," she said.

So she moved from the Gold Coast up to Brisbane to train out of Lawton with Australian teammates Brenden Hall and Lakeisha Patterson. 

After a long six months in 2018, which saw Monique miss the chance to compete at the Commonwealth Game on home soil because the events she did were not on offer, she is looking forward to getting back in the pool come the Pan Pacific Para Championships in August.

Monique will swim in the 400m freestyle where she will come up against Rio gold medalist Aurelie Rivard.

"I've been hanging out for the Pan Pacs all year and I'm just itching to get back on that team and race," she said.

With the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo in sight, she will be looking to do some Open Water swims after doing her first in Noosa not too long ago and is hoping to do them as a fundraiser for a young boy named Max.

"Open water will be great for my fitness and it's also great to have a bit more of an incentive of helping a kid in need and bringing a bit more awareness to disabilities and para-sport in general," Monique said.