Monique Murphy

Mermon [she trains with a prosthetic mermaid tail she attaches to her right leg]. (abc.net.au, 01 Sep 2016)

US Para snowboarder Amy Purdy, Australian swimmer Petria Thomas. (paralympic.org.au, 2016)

"Training without my leg was different than when I was an able-bodied swimmer. I had to train harder, longer and smarter than before. Para sport is in no way easier than being an able-bodied athlete. At an elite level, I still had to be determined and disciplined every day. I have the added challenge of having to be inventive. Learning how to push off the wall with only one leg was just one challenge." (news.com.au, 09 Oct 2018)

She was named 2016 Female Athlete of the Year by RMIT University in Melbourne, VIC, Australia. She shared the award with Australian Para swimmer Ashleigh McConnell. (rmit.edu.au, 30 Nov 2016)

She received the President's Trophy at the 2016 Swimming Victoria Awards in Australia. (vic.swimming.org.au, 2016)

To compete at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (moniquemermaidmurphy.com, Apr 2017)

In 2014 she was at a party when she fell 20 metres from a fifth floor balcony and landed on a glass roof, suffering multiple broken bones and lacerations. During her recovery she met Australian motivational speaker Mike Rolls, who helped her make the decision to amputate her lower right leg. "[Rolls] gave me a realistic understanding of what my life would be like with a prostheses. He had once faced a similar decision regarding an elective amputation, and talking to him helped my family and I decide that I would undergo further surgery to remove much of the lower part of my right leg." (news.com.au, 09 Oct 2018; moniquemermaidmurphy.com, Nov 2016; paralympic.org.au, Sep 2016; smh.com.au, 26 Jun 2016; sbs.com.au, 18 Jun 2016)

ENDOMETRIOSIS
After her 2014 accident she was left with undiagnosed endometriosis. "When I had my first period after the accident, it was absolutely horrific. It was like all the periods I'd missed were just all coming together with one big punch, and all the doctors at that time were telling me that was completely normal and my body had been through trauma, and it was just recovering and it was going to be an up-and-down journey." She received her diagnosis after five years of pain and underwent surgery. "It wasn't in my head, it was something in there, there was something that was wrong. And it's not because I'm not strong enough, and it's not because I don't have the ability to put things aside and race hard when it counts. There was something that my body was doing that wasn't right that needed to be addressed and that's ok." (abc.net.au, 08 May 2020)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
In 2019 she was selected to be a part of a partnership programme run by the Australian Institute of Sport [AIS] and mental health charity Lifeline Australia. The programme, called Lifeline Community Custodians, sees elite athletes advocate the mental health benefits of sport in Australian communities. She has also served as an ambassador for the Australian period poverty charity, 'Share the Dignity'. (Facebook page, 07 Jan 2021; sportaus.gov.au, 10 Apr 2019)

FURTHER STUDIES
She has also studied social work at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. (griffith.edu.au, 13 Sep 2018; moniquemermaidmurphy.com, Apr 2017)