The injured woman is being moved to the spinal unit in Auckland this week. Photo / Thinkstock
A Bay of Plenty woman crushed by a cow is being moved to Middlemore Hospital's spinal unit to continue her recovery.
Pongakawa farmer Linda Ross was helping load a cattle truck on August 29 when a cow jumped off the loading ramp and landed on her.
She was airlifted to Tauranga Hospital in the Trustpower TECT rescue helicopter.
Daughter Jess MacLeod said her mother was improving each day.
Mrs Ross has already had surgery on her neck twice and had her knee operated on yesterday.
"They took bone out of her hip and put it into her neck so I imagine they fused her spine," Ms MacLeod said. "She's had her halo brace removed."
The injured woman is being moved to the spinal unit in Auckland this week where she will remain for at least six weeks.
Her recovery is going well. "It's going to be a while. She's done a little bit of nerve damage to her neck."
Ms MacLeod said the community had been hugely supportive of her mother and stepfather since the accident, which happened at the start of the calving season.
"It's extremely busy so the support from the community has been great," she said. "Mum's room looks like a florist [shop]."
Ms MacLeod is on placement at Tauranga Hospital as part of her nursing studies so has been able to visit her mother regularly.
She was sleeping in preparation for a night shift when she got the call to say her mother was on her way to hospital.
"I rushed down there and stayed with her the whole time."
Mrs Ross will not have the same amount of support in Auckland but her daughter has no doubt she will continue to recover well.
"She's a tough cookie," she said.
The accident was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"It was just one girl who got spooked. It's not her fault. Cows are just skittish animals," she said.
The other aircraft took longer to vacate the runway than anticipated.