Losing two fingers in a farm accident was a tough ordeal for dairy worker Briar Henderson, but she was never going to let it get in the way of returning to the industry she loves.
So much so that she researched, designed and made her own prosthetic fingers to return to work only three months after the incident.
The 25-year-old Ms Henderson, who works at Hicks Jacobs Dairies, Mount Compass, SA, was feeding calves with a grain feed-out trailer in December last year when it blocked, or so she thought.
"The trailer blocked up so I stopped it, undid the hatch underneath and then put my fingers up there to unblock it like I'd done plenty of times before and this time it was still running," she said.
Quickly realising her mistake, Ms Henderson pulled her hand out to see a mess of bone and blood.
She jumped into the buggy she was towing the trailer with, drove back to the farm workshop, even shutting the gate behind her so the calves wouldn't get out.
Luckily a workmate was at the workshop and drove her to the Victor Harbor Hospital.
The middle and index finger on her left hand were severely damaged and reattachment wasn't possible as pieces had been spiralled around the paddock, so they were tidied up underneath the knuckle and stitched over.
She spent about four days in the hospital and in that time had already started thinking about ways to lessen the impact the accident would have on her life.
"As soon as I got pain relief, I started making jokes about making my own fingers," Ms Henderson said.
"I tried to look at the bright side and wanted to get back to normal as soon as I could.
"I watched a lot of videos on YouTube looking for people that were making them, but there wasn't really anyone making them at home themselves, it was mainly professionals.
"I started looking at toymaking YouTubers because the casting and moulding process was similar so I got a lot of information from them."
Ms Henderson took a cast of the corresponding fingers from her right hand, made a wax mould then shaped the fingers to suit her left hand.
She also designed a leather wrist strap to hold the fingers in place.
There are fingers to suit every mood. Ones with cow patterns, ones with sparkles and even a knife and fork she likes to whip out to give her workmates a laugh.
"I did look into professionally made prosthetics but they couldn't really do anything much better than what I could do myself," Ms Henderson.
"And I wanted a cow pattern, not just boring coloured plastic."
Ms Henderson's employer Perrin Hicks said the incident and aftermath spoke to her strength of character, creativity and work ethic.
"Briar has been working for us for 10 years and I've got to know her work ethic and character," he said.
"She's fixed a lot of things with tape in the past, so I wasn't surprised that she was having a crack at making her situation better.
"But when she mentioned prosthetics I assumed it was something the hospital or return to work organisation were doing for her."
Ms Henderson couldn't see much value in sitting at home, to the point where she decided to cut her return-to-work payments because she'd started working enough hours to cover what she'd been earning before the accident.
"It's a testament to her that she's got the attitude to get back and work," Mr Hicks said.
"It would have been hard getting back into the buggy and feeding grain again, and getting hit on the fingers, but she didn't need any encouraging. She has been a fantastic worker for us and I'm glad she's back."
Returning on light duties, Ms Henderson was back on full duties by April, which included using the feed-out trailer that no one had used since that day in December.
"Having to go out in the buggy again and listen to the machine whirring was a constant reminder of what happened and was very jarring," she said.
While a good fashion accessory, the prosthetic fingers function well and have helped Ms Henderson get back to work, and life, faster.
"The ends of my fingers were really sensitive and made me want to throw up when they touched something so having the prosthetics helps and the pressure is placed on the outside of my fingers and hand," she said.
"It protects them against the cows and calves."
Being back among the calves and cows has helped her mental health, as has support and counselling from a return to work organisation.
Ms Henderson is loving being back at work, saying she hopes to one day own her own dairy farm - a goal that seems distinctly achievable given the character and ingenuity she showed after her accident.
"Dairy farming is my dream job and was always something I wanted to do, but didn't know there was a job to do," she said.
"I always wanted to ride motorbikes, play with cows, listen to music and I thought 'there's no job like that' but there is."
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