IT has been 30 years in the making, but archer Dawn Nelson has at last realised her ambition of competing at the Commonwealth Games.

The Crib Point grandmother is the only Victorian in the Australian archery team going to Delhi in India in October.

Her dream looked in tatters in January when a back injury sustained while moving furniture at home put her in hospital for four weeks.

"It was devastating, especially considering I had just made the Commonwealth Games shadow squad," she said.

Enter Mornington chiropractor Craig Nelson who, although not related to Dawn, quickly became like family. She was back in training by early February.

"It was amazing, I couldn't have done it without Craig," she said.

A further setback occurred in May when her second grandchild, Indiana, a sister for two-year-old Ellie, was born five weeks premature. Baby and mum, Nelson's daughter Shelly, are now doing well, but the anxiety took its toll on all.

She regained focus to put in a stellar performance at an Archery World Cup tournament in the United States earlier this month; she was the only competitor to seriously challenge world No.1 Korean archer Moon Jung Kim, winning a set and missing out on a fairytale victory by three points.

Nelson missed her first chance at a Commonwealth Games in 1982, when she was national junior champion. Archery did not feature in the 1986 games and then life got in the way.

After a 23-year hiatus raising three children, she took up the bow and arrow again in 2006 and was disappointed to find archery not included in that year's Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

On Saturday, she left for China for the final round of the World Cup in Shanghai and then it will be a flying visit home to see husband Peter Furnell and children Shelly, who lives in Hastings, Shane, who lives independently in Crib Point, and Crystal, 11, before a training camp in Darwin to acclimatise to tropical conditions and then straight to Delhi.

Concerns have been raised about the safety of athletes in Delhi but Nelson is philosophical about the perceived risk. "The Indian people we've been shooting with are just absolutely terrific people; there are good and bad people everywhere," Nelson said.

At 45, she is among the oldest competitors on the team and is often mistaken for a coach or manager.

"I think it's a good message for the younger competitors – if you want it bad enough and work hard enough you will get there, eventually," she said.