This is the story of a service station attendant and his mother, two people who believe nothing's impossible ... it just might be very hard.
For 17 years Lynne D'Aquino, of Wanniassa, has played the role of single mother to three children, including Matt, now 23, and been the tireless supporter of all their dreams.
While the family often faced hard times, the children's ambitions particularly in the sport of judo have never been sacrificed. Now the family is about to realise the ultimate sporting dream.
Tomorrow week, Matt D'Aquino moves from the fluorescent lights of a Fyshwick service station to the greatest show on earth.
He becomes an Olympian, in the 60kg judo division. One of the first Australians in competition at the Beijing Games, he will follow in the footsteps of his coach, Tom Hill, who competed in Sydney in 2000.
It's been a long time coming.
Growing up, their once-a-year family holiday was always to a judo championship, Lynne behind the wheel for the drive to Melbourne or further afield. If they ever got to the beach, it was only because there was a judo hall nearby.
One year the national junior titles were in Tasmania. Flights were $320 a head and, on one income, it would have been very easy to dismiss any hope of the children getting there.
Determined not to have them miss out, Lynne took up the challenge of raising the money. Most days after she got home from her admin job, the family would walk the streets for hours, selling fundraising chocolate door to door. There must have been plenty of Canberrans with a taste for Cadbury's, because when the championships came around they had the money to go.
As Lynne recalled, ''At first I thought, 'How on earth are we going to afford this?' but then I thought, 'Nup, nothing's impossible, its just going to be hard.'''
''It took us the 12 months but we eventually did it. We thought that if we could do that we could go to any nationals anywhere, and from then on we did.''
Determination and an ethic of hard work seem to have rubbed off in the family. Over the past two weeks, Matt hasn't had a day's rest. He's worked two part-time jobs, his weekends taken up in the Mobil service station.
His fiancee, Samantha, has been working seven days a week, too, in an IT company from Monday to Thursday and a shoe shop from Friday to Sunday. Matt's brother Malcolm has also been working two jobs, as a car detailer during the day and as a cleaner at night.
Malcolm, Samantha and Lynne have put in countless hours of work so they can be in Beijing with Matt, giving him courage and hope against the best ''judoka'' from Korea, Georgia and Japan.
Lynne says she's ''more ecstatic than you'd ever know'' that she'll be there in the stands.
Matt said she's his inspiration and deserves to be there as much as he does.
''She's been a mum and a dad to us. She's sacrificed so much and given me and my brother and sister a good life. We've wanted for nothing because of her.
''For me it's one thing to achieve my goal, but it's also important to her to show Mum that by what she's done in her life she's made it possible for all of us to succeed.''
Last week, D'Aquino won a $5000 grant from Australian Olympic Committee sponsor Johnson & Johnson. The grant is part of a $200,000 scheme to help athletes' family members come to China to support them.
The family is renting a flat for $1500 a week, cheap by Beijing standards.
Lynne says she'd never have missed the Games. But now she won't have to sell chocolates to pay the bill.
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