Canadian rugby sevens star Olivia Apps' dramatic year feels more and more like a movie as the team captain brings awareness to both a sport and an autoimmune disease.

And in a year featuring plenty of truth stranger than fiction, Apps has helped her side post a humongous win just over a month after being attacked by a cougar.

We'll get back to that.

Apps, 25, helped Canada to a stunning upset of hosts France in the sevens quarterfinals on Monday, and the nascent rugby nation will play for at least bronze as North America is now guaranteed at least its second women's rugby medal with the Canadians joining the United States in the semifinal round.

The nation continues to grow its reputation in the sport after capturing a bronze at Rio 2016 (ironically also beating France in the quarters) and Apps is also raising understanding of alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes the loss of hair.

Apps told the CBC that many don't know about alopecia, leading the questions about whether the athlete shaves her head or is undergoing chemotherapy. And Apps tried wearing a wig when she was younger but didn't find it the right fit.

I think — women especially, but men as well — a lot of people aren't comfortably bald," Apps said. "So they don't see a lot of people without hair, they don't see a lot of women without hair. So I don't think that enables a lot of awareness because there's not a lot of exposure to it.

It's been a wild few months for Apps, and the adjective fits super well when noting where she was six weeks ago -- in a helicopter with a friend and a dog heading to a hospital following a cougar attack.

Apps had been hiking with a friend and two dogs at Elk River Trail in Strathcona Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada, when a cougar attacked the dogs and left the scrum half in need of treatment for a cougar bite.

The player soon returned to training, and could capture her first medal in her second Olympics with a win in the semifinal round against Australia or Ireland, or a loss and a win in the bronze medal match against New Zealand or neighbors the United States.