Grace Steele, 18, said the trauma she had suffered was made worse by the fact no-one was taking responsibility.
Ms Steele said she crashed into the herd of cattle after turning a corner after dark, breaking one’s hind legs.
She now had headaches, nightmares and an inability to remember the simplest things.
She did not know why she had to deal with the financial cost, not to mention health issues.
When she got out of her vehicle, on State Highway 94, near Mandeville, she watched a driver on the other side of the road hit the cattle, instantly killing one and writing off his car.
The rest was just a blur as she was suffering from shock and concussed.
Emergency services attended and she was taken to Gore Hospital with a high heart rate.
This was Ms Steele’s third concussion in two years.
In a statement, police said they had spoken to the owner of the livestock and no further action would be taken.
One cow died at the scene and another was later put down, they said.
Now, more than six weeks after the April 17 accident, life is not getting easier for Miss Steele.
She had to a pay $1050 excess for the damage to her car, but the toll it had taken on her mentally, and the cost to repair the physiological damage, was just as steep, she said.
She rolled her car in 2023, sustaining a concussion, and the latest one exacerbated her issues.
"I think it really just topped everything off."
She had received psychotherapy, which she paid for, and professional help with her memory.
"I know it’s not cheap from my first car crash," she said.
"[It was] just like tools to help remember things because I really struggle."
Her struggles included not remembering what she was told just 15 minutes earlier and forgetting where the toaster was, even if it had been in the same place, she said.
She could not work for the mandatory two weeks after her concussion, suffered from headaches, could not drive, and in the car, she kept her eyes shut due to motion problems.
"I was feeling a little bit, definitely sad, because I struggle so much with my memory and my health and everything, so it put me in a bit of shock," she said.
Worst of all were the nightmares.
"I close my eyes and I’m like ‘oh, cow’."
A week after the accident, she lost a friend in Milford Sound, where she was working and living.
She had since moved to her boyfriend’s family home in rural Southland for some "head space".
She was not sure how her insurance company would deal with the cost of her car, as it had told her to wait six weeks, nor who would be liable.
She believed the owner of the cows should take responsibility.
"It doesn’t matter how — they’re his animals.
"It could have caused a lot more harm than it did."
