A Resilient Rebel: Cheryl Marshall and the Will to Keep Going

Some stories don’t shout.

They steady you.

Cheryl Marshall’s journey is one of those stories — not because it is easy to hear, but because it offers something rare: perspective. A reminder that resilience is not about bouncing back to who you were before, but about choosing to keep going when life redraws the map.

Cheryl’s career in shipping began in Western Australia, before bringing her back to the east coast and into a shipping officer role at Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal Pty Ltd (DBCT P/L or Daly Bay as it’s known locally) in 2011. She loved the work. She loved the pace. And then, in a single moment, everything changed.

A head-on collision with a drink driver left Cheryl with significant, life-altering injuries. Two years away from work. Six months in a wheelchair. A body that would never move the same way again. Her role — which required climbing stairs and boarding vessels — was no longer physically possible.

For many, that could have been the end of the story.

Instead, it became the beginning of a different one.

What followed was not just rehabilitation of the body, but a rebuilding of identity. Cheryl faced uncertainty most people never imagine — questioning whether she would ever work again, or what “capable” would even mean in this new reality. But at Daly Bay, she was met with something powerful: belief.

She was told, simply and clearly, we will look after you.

Rather than being defined by what she could no longer do, Cheryl was supported to find a new path — one that honoured her skills, her experience, and her capacity. Today, she works in Commercial Services, a role shaped not by limitation, but by trust.

Her resilience runs deeper still.

Just three months before her accident, Cheryl lost her brother to suicide. Grief arrived before recovery. Loss before healing. And yet, through it all, she made a decision — conscious or instinctive — to live.

“I suppose I have a will to live,” she says.

That will show up in the way Cheryl approaches work, family, and life. She is future-focused without postponing joy. She travels. She camps. She caravans again, even after trauma once made getting into a car unbearable. She believes deeply that life is not something to be stockpiled for “someday”.

“Life’s too good to waste.”

At work, Cheryl leads quietly. She notices who hasn’t been invited. She brings people in. She checks on others. She offers perspective when someone is struggling — not from theory, but from lived experience. Her strength is not loud, but it is steady. And it changes the room.

Cheryl is, in every sense, a resilient rebel.

Not because she defied the odds in some dramatic way — but because she refused to let hardship have the final word. She chose adaptation over withdrawal. Purpose over fear. Life over limitation.

Her story doesn’t ask us to be fearless.
It asks us to keep going.

And sometimes, that’s the bravest rebellion of all.

Cheryl’s story reminds us that resilience doesn’t always look like strength on display — sometimes it looks like adaptation, trust, and the courage to begin again. In choosing to stay engaged with life, work and community after unimaginable change, she offers a powerful perspective: that purpose can evolve, joy can be reclaimed in new forms, and strength can be found in simply continuing forward. Her journey is a testament to what’s possible when women are supported, believed in, and given space to rewrite their story — on their own terms.