Tattykeel donates proceeds from $45,000 ram to Spinal Cord Injuries Australia

Tattykeel Resilience ET211640 was sold for $45,000 at the Branxton Park sale, Black Springs, with the entire proceeds donated to Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCIA).

The ram was purchased by the Carter family, to be used in Red Tank Australian White stud, Nyngan.

And for Craig Pellow, the donation had even more meaning.

Mr Pellow, QPL Rural's director of livestock and rural property sales, said the donation would help people living with spinal cord injuries, like his nieces Jess and Ash, who are both in wheelchairs after a car accident.

Jess is now a peer and family support team member.

This team provides free, non-clinical, practical advice and lived experience of physical disability to help people with spinal cord injury.

"I don't know of anyone who hasn't got a family member, friend or know someone that has been affected by spinal cord injuries," he said.

Mr Pellow said having some who knows what they were dealing with was so important.

"They've been through it. They know how it goes, and it's nice for people to have someone just down the road who understands," he said.

Mr Pellow said Jess and Ash's dad Phil had always helped out with the Tattykeel sale, and the Gilmore family wanted to give back and show support for his family and the cause.

Mr Pellow said they were also planning another fundraiser soon, where rural businesses could donate goods, from drench to feeders to fertiliser, that could be auctioned at a special event to be held at Mayfield Gardens to raise funds for SCIA.

For Steve Macready, SCIA, the generous donation is a crucial step in getting more peer and family support team members out into rural areas.

Mr Macready said usually when people from rural areas get a spinal injury, they received treatment in the city.

But it is when they head home that they really need support, and this is where peer and family support team members make all the difference.

"People have spinal injuries for life, and it is when they come home that having someone else who has experienced a spinal injury as a support is powerful for them," he said.

"The whole focus of this is making sure people who have a spinal cord injury can still live their best life."

He said the proceeds from the auction would help fund a peer support team member for the Central West.

As well as the proceeds of the auction, there were also QR codes available on sale day at Tattykeel where buyers and visitors could donate to the cause.