When Catherine McGregor says she's just happy to be nominated for Australian of the Year, she means it.
Not simply for the honour of being recognised as a leading advocate for the country's transgender community.
But because four years earlier, on January 25, 2012, she had planned to die.
"I was at Adelaide Oval and by the most slender thread, I didn't go back to my hotel room and end my life," the Toowoomba-born nominee says.
She'd spent decades living as Malcolm McGregor - an army Lieutenant Colonel with three East Timor operations under his belt.
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Malcolm was respected, successful and happily married.
But he wasn't Catherine.
"Now I look back on my hypermasculine period - doing all the tough-guy stuff - and realise that was role play," the 59-year-old explains.
It was a role she eventually abandoned in 2012 to start the psychologically, physically and hormonally arduous process of transitioning to a woman.
But what followed was a "blissful" realisation of her true feminine identity, the well-known cricket commentator says.
Becoming Catherine marked a new chapter in an already compelling story - one that's brought National Press Club addresses and now the Queensland nomination for Australian of the Year.
Ms McGregor says she is keenly aware of the nomination's importance to enhancing "trans-visibility" at a time when cultural touchstones like Caitlyn Jenner and The Danish Girl are raising awareness about gender dysphoria.
"If I'm successful, I'm going to get a campaign going," she pledged.
But make no mistake, when the Australian of the Year is announced on January 25, 2016, Catherine McGregor will already be smiling.
Because that same day four years earlier marked her beginning, not her end.
"That's my kind of triumph," she said.
* For support and information about suicide prevention, call Lifeline on 13 11 14
QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS
AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Catherine McGregor AM. The Former Lieutenant Colonel who became an advocate and leader of transgender community after transitioning in 2012
SENIOR AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Tim Fairfax AC. The successful businessman who founded the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation, which has given more than $16 million since 2008 to community-based arts, music and sporting projects in regional Australia
YOUNG AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett. The co-founders of Orange Sky Laundry, a free mobile laundry van service intended to help the homeless
AUSTRALIA'S LOCAL HERO
Michael Ross. The Olkola man appointed by elders to lead people of Cape York in fight for land rights.
