Weightlifter Megan Signal has had an emotionally exhausting eight-month rollercoaster that started with missing the Tokyo Olympics, due to a last-minute injury, but ending with a speedy recovery to earn selection for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
"It was really intense," Signal tells Newshub, about the rehabilitation process for the shoulder injury suffered during her final training session before Tokyo.
"There obviously had to be time to process what happened and the disappointment of what had happened, but at the same time, we were straight into planning how we would get here, because we did have such a short period of time."
A seven-strong weightlifting team, including 2018 gold medallist David Liti, will travel to Birmingham, with Signal lifting in the 76kg category.
The Hamiltonian is certainly no stranger to the heartbreak of coming so close to an international showpiece, only to have it cruelly snatched away after years of grueling preparation, with a knee injury also forcing her out of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Those experiences left her even more determined to regain fitness for Birmingham.
Despite her intense preparation and rehabilitation, she admits there was a stage she thought it might not happen.
"I think it means even more, because it was so touch-and-go whether I would be able to compete at a pinnacle event this year," she adds. "I'm just really grateful to be here."
Nothing was guaranteed, with a real fear that all Signal's hard work could still be undone.
"It was really hard to believe that it was actually going to happen, until two weeks ago, when I actually made it on to the competition floor for my qualifier," she recalls.
"Right up until that, we were just working on making sure I could even get any weight over head and that the shoulder was still stable, and working with the surgeons and physios. It's been intense, but it was all worth it."
While Signal, 32, is all smiles, after being selected for another pinnacle event, the road to England has been far from easy and she admits, in the darkest moments, she understood how much the sport meant to her.
"I didn't realise how much I wanted it, until there was a high chance I wouldn't get the opportunity to reach it [Commonwealth Games].
"I had multiple times when I was just crying, not because I was sad, but because I just wanted it so much.
"When you bring that kind of emotion out of yourself, you realise this is worth fighting for. It may be my last [event], so that was a good motivator as well."
