With bated breath and crossed fingers, Aaron McCarthy's family sat huddled around a glowing screen on Wednesday night, their eyes glued to a distant live stream.
Tension hung heavy as his wife, Tahnee, their three children Noah, 12, George, 5, and four-month-old Isabel, and Aaron's mother, Margaret McCarthy, sat glued to the screen, their bags already packed in anticipation of the news.
With tickets to Italy in hand, they held their breath to find out if they'd be spectators at a ski resort or front row fans for Australia's newest Paralympic snowboarding star.
After years of navigating the depths of tragedy, they watched the ultimate triumph unfold as the quiet farmer from The Rock, near Wagga in NSW, was officially named to the 2026 Australian Paralympic Team representing Australia at the Milano Cortina Paralympic Games.
As the news broke and the cheers echoing through the McCarthy home finally subsided, Mrs McCarthy gathered her thoughts saying she was "extremely proud of Aaron".
"I'm excited for him," she said.
"He gets to wear the green and gold, and represent his country.
"I have a sense of relief knowing all his hard work has paid off."
The McCarthys have worked their land since 2019, raising three children in the quiet of the country.
That peace was shattered on December 14, 2021, when a split-second event irrevocably altered the course of Mr McCarthy's life.
What began as a normal day heading out to harvest grain, ended with the loss of a limb after his leg was caught in the harvester and instantly amputated.
Quick thinking and a calm approach saw Mr McCarthy survive something that, in his words, "should have killed me".
"I knew that if things were going to run smoothly, I needed to stay calm," he said.
"I took that approach through my recovery too, especially for my family.
"If they saw me struggling, they would've struggled, so I kept it together."
Just over two weeks after his life changed, Mr McCarthy was discharged from hospital.
By the one-month mark, he was back in the thick of the community and sports he lived for.
The accident almost drove the couple to sell the farm, but ultimately, the appeal of their lifestyle outweighed the trauma of the event.
Mrs McCarthy said there were a few weeks of darkness following the accident, and wheelchair sports were his first path to recovery.
"He played wheelchair tennis immediately after his accident," she said.
"Getting into sports in general saved him from depression keeping him active and saved him from the darker path.
"It was a mobility clinic in the winter of 2022, where he tried Para snowboarding and became pretty much hooked.
"That clinic was the starting point, and in 2023 he did as many snow clinics, camps, and days on the snow that he could."
Mrs McCarthy noted that managing the property and the family solo has been a significant task while Mr McCarthy's commitments kept him away most of the summer.
"Isabel was born and he was home for two or three weeks, and then he's gone for five weeks at a time," she said.
"He's then back for a week or two and gone again.
"It's hard, we're holding down the fort and making sure the farm is running in the background, there's lots of emotions you go through."
In 2024 the entire family relocated to Jindabyne for the winter season.
This move allowed Mr McCarthy to commit to a full-time program, with the family shifting their home base to support his training.
While there, the boys took up skiing and snowboarding, giving them a common language of adventure to share with their dad.
After honing his skills in a development program, Mr McCarthy reached a major milestone last European winter representing Australia for the first time, finishing the season as European Cup champion in his classification.
Mr McCarthy will compete in the snowboard cross and banked slalom events scheduled to take place on March 7, 8 and 14.
Mrs McCarthy described her husband as humble, and said he has achieved this goal not as a funded or sponsored athlete.
"We are doing this off our own fundraising and off our own backs," she said.
"After his accident we had a GoFundMe, and his sister Jess did Wagga Takes Two fundraising for Disabled Wintersport Australia.
"They in turn got behind Aaron and helped out a little bit too."
"Without the fundraising, I don't think he'd be financially doing this, we are so grateful to the community."
Mrs McCarthy said it is "pretty extraordinary" that he's come so far in such a short period of time, noting how hard he has worked to get to this point.
"He had an injury recently that he had to bounce back from," she said.
"His strength, determination, and resilience have really stood out to get there in the first place."