Australian Paralympian Natalie Curtis has died suddenly at the age of 34.

The basketball player was a member of Australia's wheelchair basketball squad ahead of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where the Aussies missed out on a medal. She was also renowned for raising awareness of disability sports and athletes.

Curtis died on February 5 but the cause of death is not yet known. The tragic news was confirmed on Facebook by her sister Emma, who posted: “If you knew Natalie, you would know she was the most beautiful, kind and talented person. She was a daughter, a sister, an auntie and a mother to a beautiful little boy."

Curtis was born with spina bifida but it didn't curtail her involvement in sport, and her sibling added: “Everyone who knew her loved her instantly, she had such a kind soul and would do anything for the people she cared for most.”

The star had to overcome adversity in her career, with another sister drowning at a young age. She took up basketball as a teenager and in 2013 won silver with Australia at the 2013 Japan Oceania Championships, but shortly afterwards suffered multiple spinal fractures in a car accident.

She hit the headlines last October when she had to crawl off a Jetstar flight because the airline failed to provide her with an aisle wheelchair on landing. The Townsville star later described the experience as "humiliating."

She said: “They all just sat around for a while and the option that was left was for me to get on the floor and crawl. It was extremely humiliating so I definitely don’t want anyone else to go through what I had to go through."

Curtis also coached wheelchair basketball and founded Vital Supports and Supplies, a disability care services company. She also worked closely with the charity Sporting Dreams.

The organisation have also paid tribute: “A young soul taken too soon. She was so much more than an athlete," they said, in a released statement. “A vibrant human being, wife, mother to a small boy, business founder and manager of her own company supporting people with disabilities. Someone who leads by example. RIP Natalie.”