When Sharon Jarvis first got back on a horse only a few years after beating cancer, she was petrified.
"I spent most of the time squeaking or squealing," she said.
Jarvis had been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma bone cancer at the age of seven and given just a 20 per cent chance of survival.
A year of treatment saved her life, but she was left with a loss of movement and strength in her lower left side.
"For six years, I never gave up hope of riding again," she said.
"But to get on the horse, for the first time, I was terrified.
Getting back in the saddle
Despite her fears, Jarvis got back in the saddle and found the freedom she had been missing.
"I would love to be able to run, jump properly and play other sports, but there are things that I can't do.
As a teenager, living with a disability in the small regional WA town of Donnybrook, school was not always easy.
That's when Jarvis turned to riding.
"The horses don't know that I have a disability and they just treat me like everybody else — as an equal.
"I could get on my pony after school and ride away from my troubles and my fears.
The long, bumpy road to Tokyo
Riding would soon become more than just free movement to Jarvis.
She became an accomplished rider, winning ribbons and medals at an international level.
In 2008, she was selected for the Beijing Paralympic Games and again in 2016 for the games in Rio.
This July, 42 year-old Jarvis was announced as the first person to make a third para-equestrian team when she was selected as one of four riders for Tokyo.
All athletes had a bumpy road to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, after the Games were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Jarvis had a few extra hurdles to clear.
'My brown unicorn'
In the lead up to the Games, her horse sustained an injury and Jarvis was left to scour social media in the hope of finding someone who would lend her a replacement.
"We just had so many incredible people offer their horse to me for Tokyo," she said.
In the end, she came across Romanos, aka Rommy.
"I just knew with that one ride that I really thought we could do it.
While the extra year gave Jarvis more time to bond with Rommy, it also meant more time away from family.
In the lead-up to Tokyo, Jarvis moved to Heatherbrae in New South Wales to compete in Paralympic qualifying events and overcome border restrictions.
"She has worked so hard to get where she is," said Jarvis's sister Jenni Brown.
"And to be living over east with all COVID and everything going on and her missing her family.
"It's just a mammoth achievement."
Ms Brown has seen her sister survive many tough situations, which she believes gave Jarvis the tenacity to carry on.
"When she was younger, she was quite ill," she said.
"To get herself through that illness, she had to have a dream.
"Her dream was to go to the Olympics. And here she is."
Dreaming big
Despite being on the cusp of her third Paralympics, it still feels like a dream come true for Jarvis.
It was a dream that once felt so unbelievable, she kept it close to her chest.
"I never really wrote down what my ultimate goal was, because, you know, it was so crazy and it seemed unattainable for a disabled kid from south-west Western Australia," she said.
Ms Jarvis wants other young people to know that just because a dream sounds unrealistic to some, that doesn't mean it's unachievable.
