When the Dust Settles is the inspiring story of NT cattleman Rob Cook's journey back to life after a catastrophic helicopter accident in 2008 that left him paralysed from the shoulders down, and his struggle to regain a life on the land as a quadriplegic.

When the third-generation cattleman set out on a routine mustering job in a chopper, it was a day in his life like any other, but when the chopper fell 200 feet out of the sky, it became the day that changed everything.

This one-time extremely active sporting representative and professional bull-rider had been in many scrapes before including a broken arm from football, a broken jaw needing facial reconstruction when a horse kicked him in the head, and a severe groin injury suffered when a cow gored him.

He had even miraculously walked away from a previous crash in his beloved Gyrocopter, but this time it was different and after a painstaking wait of seven hours to be rescued from the wreck there was no walking away.

‘When the Dust Settles’ is a biography with the intention to inspire.  It is a story about Rob’s childhood, when he moved to the Northern Territory with his family to live, and work on Australia's most remote cattle station Suplejack Downs, which his family has run since the early 1960s.

It is a story about a long-distance relationship which blossomed into marriage and family.  It is a story about love and family commitment which played a pivotal role in his recovery and it is a dedication to the love and support of his extraordinary wife, Sarah, who helped ease the realisation that he would never move his body again.

• ‘When the Dust Settles’ is available from ABC bookshops, or click here.