Over the past 12 days, Eliza Ault-Connell would have not only inspired the next generation of disabled athletes, but also her three children, Eva, Elka and Jensen, who mean the world to her.

The former Chevalier College Student competed in the women's 100m, 400m and marathon T54 events and finished in the top 10 for two of them, with two season bests to go with her results.

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In the 100m and 400m races, she made the final as a non-automatic qualifier before finishing eighth and seventh. She finished 13^th in the marathon.

The 39-year-old, just like the other 178 Australian Paralympians at these games, have their own stories to tell, but Ault-Connell's one is truly special.

When she was 16-years-old, she said her legs were amputated below the knee due to meningococcal meningitis.

"I had the typical early symptoms, but we hadn't even heard of it when the doctors told my parents," Ault-Connell said.

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"I woke up one morning and felt unwell, not disastrously unwell, but by that night I was on life support and things progressed rapidly.

"I had both of my legs amputated and my fingers as well."

The cooking and camping lover took up para-athletics in 1998 and competed in the 2004 Athens Paralympics, but took a break in 2007 to start a family.

While watching the 2016 Paralympic games with her family, her kids basically said, look, we're bored, you're not doing much, can you start racing again so that we've got something to entertain us.

"They basically encouraged me to jump back in a race chair and to do a race so they could watch something," Ault-Connell said.

"The thought of being able to compete in Australia during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, in front of my family and in front of my children, was a massive draw factor."

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The director of Meningococcal Australia has her eyes set on the 2024 Paralympics, but despite Eva's dream, the 2028 games in Paris could be a bit of a stretch.

"Eva is a very keen long jumper and her goal is to get to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles," she said.

"She wants me to do the Paralympics and her to do the Olympics.

"I don't think she's done the maths and worked out how old I'm going to be."

Ault-Connell, like all Paralympians past and present, is a part of the Paralympic movement which aims to change attitudes about persons with disabilities, increase mobility and accessibility and ensure that persons with disabilities have equal opportunity to education, sport, healthcare and employment.

Our Paralympians have inspired the younger disabled population to strive to be on the world stage.

However, starting up in a Paralympic sport not only takes a lot time and effort, but a lot of money, especially when it comes to equipment.

To help make their pathways easier and to send Eliza Ault-Connell a message at the same time, buy a $25 virtual Tokyo Paralympics seat at https://donate.paralympic.org.au/.

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