WHEN Meggan Dawson-Farrell reflects on 2014, she can do so with an amazing sense of pride.

The 22-year-old from Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, represented Team Scotland in the T54 1500m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she finished seventh. While that was an impressive achievement in its own right, even more remarkable was her journey to get there.

Dawson-Farrell was born with spina bifida, a fault in the spinal column in which one or more vertebrae fail to form properly, causing damage to the nervous system and leading to limited mobility.

In addition, she suffers from hydrocephalus, an accumulation of fluid in the cavities of the brain. The condition is treated by inserting a shunt, a special type of valve which drains the excess fluid, carrying it to other parts of the body. Between December 2012 and February 2013, she had five separate operations after the shunt snapped, leading to an infection that began eating away at her brain and left a hole in the side of her head.

Dawson-Farrell spent the best part of three months in and out of hospital at the start of last year but, despite being given the all-clear to return to training and competition by mid-March, illness struck again in October. A brain scan revealed her shunt was blocked, leading to a sixth emergency dash to theatre.

Most would have eased themselves into 2014 with tentative caution but Dawson-Farrell had a deadline to make: competing at the Games in July.

"It was a tough year for me," she says. "Towards the end of autumn 2013 I thought I stood a good chance at the Games of coming away in the top four. The reality of my health issues made it very clear I had to just give it everything I had. The whole build-up was really exciting. It's the first time I had raced in front of all my family and friends as usually these races happen in other countries."

Dawson-Farrell describes competing at Hampden Park as "a truly magical experience". She was there in December 2013 when the diggers arrived to begin the transformation from football pitch to athletics track. "I was on the sidelines thinking, 'This is where it begins.'"

But even visualising it that day couldn't prepare Dawson-Farrell for the sheer scale of what lay ahead. "The crowds were like nothing I ever experienced before," she says. "The biggest crowd I had raced in front of was at the UK School Games where you would be lucky if there were 100 people. To roll out of the tunnel and be faced with 40,000 fans during my heats gave me shivers. That and my finals race are two moments I will never forget. The roar of the fans was deafening."

Then there was the matter of Cupid's arrow finding its target amid the famed Hampden roar. "I met my boyfriend during the Games," she says. "His name is Lewis and he's a sprinter from Aberdeen. He asked me out at my final race. Everyone was teasing us. We have been going out since July."

Yet all the while, her health issues loomed in the background. While in hospital for brain surgery in October 2013, Dawson-Farrell contracted a super bug in her urinary tract. "The antibiotics that I was living on were like putting bleach through my veins," she says. "My stamina was low and my need for rest high - not the best combination when you are building up to the biggest days of your athletics career.

"I had to accept that this wasn't going to be the best, fit version of me. My goals had to change to make it to the finals. I'm really proud I made it because at times my doctors were telling me they didn't think my body could take the punishment. I told them I didn't care what they had to do, just get me on that start line. My mum says I was kept together with sticky plasters."

Dawson-Farrell made a pact with her doctor that she would have surgery on her bladder, kidneys and urinary tract straight after Glasgow 2014 had concluded. "A date was set, the bed and theatre slot made available," she says. "A good compromise I thought. Anything as long as I got to the Games. I'm still not 100% but it seems I'm going to have to get along with this bacteria as it's here to stay. I have a great team around me in both the medical side and athletics, so I couldn't ask for any more."

One of the biggest stand-outs of her Commonwealth Games experience was the tremendous sense of belonging. "I really felt part of an integrated Team Scotland. There was no difference made between myself and the able-bodied athletes," she says. "I spent a lot of my free time visiting schools sharing my excitement and stories with others. It was a great opportunity to promote disability sport, helping people to see the athlete and not the disability."