Surgery left Brooke Dingle wheelchair bound, so she turned to cattle

She'd been diagnosed with hemangioblastomas or tumors that had grown in her spinal cord.

Brooke admits although she was warned about possible outcomes, the gravity didn't sink in until after she woke up from her surgeries.

"When they said that there was a high chance I was going to lose function my legs, I never expected to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life," she said.

"I was so naive and I wasn't fully prepared for what it was going to be like. I didn't expect everything from my chest down to be affected.

"You don't expect not being able to go to the bathroom by yourself."

Brooke has learnt to live with having help to carry out basic tasks such as getting out of bed in the morning, but she's also found ways to make adaptations that allow her to continue to work with and breed cattle.

"I am better off than many of the people who went through the spinal injuries unit, so I just suck it up and get on with it and try and do things I enjoy," she said.

Her family has made adaptations to their property to allow Brooke to work with cattle, such as changing the way gates opened in the yards or moving troughs to improve access.

She was also in the process of seeking NDIS funding for a new chair that would be more appropriate on-farm.

"Most of my days revolve around cows, it is a real passion for me," Brooke said.

"I bought my own heifer and bull a couple of years ago and now I am seeing the rewards of that with my first proper calf born last year," she said.

Brooke said the Kirk family of Rockley Brahmans generously lent her a bull to breed some calves from, but after 12 months she fell in love with the bull and asked if she could purchase him, which they agreed to.

She said spending time with cattle was the best form of therapy for her.

"If I'm having a crappy day, I just go out with them and it's fine. It's very difficult to not be around them when I have to go to Brisbane every few months for procedures," she said.

"I just cannot wait to get home to my cows."

Brooke said the family was running a small herd of around 30 stud quality breeding cows and a small commercial herd of around 35 head of Brahman cross and Simbrah cross cows.

"The numbers are a lot smaller than we used to be but we're definitely building numbers back up to compare to where we were a few years ago, which is exciting," she said.

"We are hopefully doing our first artificial insemination program later this year."

Brooke wasn't always as confident as she is now with the cattle.

"To start with I was very hesitant to go around the cows and I didn't want to go in the paddocks.

"I wasn't necessarily scared but I was very cautious as the cows were well over my head and they're massive and heavy, so I didn't know how they'd react," she said.

"To start with I'd go to the fence and pat them through the fence because I didn't want to go in the paddock, but now they swarm me and they rub up on my chair.

"Rocky [the bull] will push on my chair and spin it around, but it doesn't bother me anymore."

In addition to her connection with cattle, Brooke's family has been instrumental in her care and continued positive outlook.

Her brother Clint and mum Tanya stepped into care roles through the NDIS as her support workers, largely due to the lack of access to alternative carers in a rural area.

"I was in a severely depressive state there for a while where I did think all those awful things," Brooke said.

"Honestly without my family, I would not be here. They saved my life and without them I would have probably been put into a nursing home."

Brooke wasn't unfamiliar with stepping into care roles for her family either, having left a career in vet nursing to care for her grandparents in her early 20s.

"I was super passionate about vert nursing, especially large animals, and I wasn't particularly planning on leaving either, but family comes first."

She said she would likely would not return to the profession as it was very demanding, however she may look into the possibility of reproduction work in the future.

Brooke has remained optimistic for future research into spinal injuries and neurological function and has participated in research trials in the hope of possibly making things better for others in the future.

"If it makes things better for someone in 10 years and maybe they get to walk again, hell, I'm all for that."

She was also very clear that she wanted more open dialogue about the realities for people living in a wheelchair.

"People prefer to be private about things and don't want to talk about their injury and that's fine as it's traumatic as hell, like, every time I think about what I've been through, it gives me PTSD," she said.

"But I just want it to be more normal for people to talk about what they've been through.

"I've accepted that my life is different, but still I still have the same interests and people around me.

"I just have wheels now and my legs don't get sore from walking."