Have you ever broken the needle?

I broke Lyra Lydian Beta stylus(cantilever was OK) just like you during mounting my new cartridge and sent it over to VanDenHul where they charged significantly less money than in Japan. Anyway Lyra uses VanDenHul stylus.
On the other hand I still had Benz Glider(it's already more than 6000 hours on that one with original stylus and cantilever and it doesn't change!!!) so temporarily I could listen for it. Now I've got Helikon and Benz M.9 as a backup.

I broke the needle off my Glider once, but had it re-tipped for 50% of retail. It wasn't a happy moment, but I am glad it was repairable. I think the WB cartridges are also re-tippable, because they're cartridges are modified Benz cartridges, aren't they??

I use a medical hemostat to connect the cartridge clips. HIGHLY recommended...

Regarding the current status of your cartridge, you can probably send it to the manufacturer to be rebuilt. In this case, there's nothing to do but suck it up and spend the money.

If it makes you feeal any better, my dealer told me that he once broke his Koetsu Onyx Platinum in a freak accident. If I recall correctly, his dealer cost for repair was more than $2k. Ouch!

I just sent my Wilson Benesch Analog cartridge back to WB to be retipped/rebuilt for $300. I haven't gotten it back yet so I can't be sure of the results. But the price is very reasonable.

$300????? Now THAT's a bargain! Is that their standard re-tip charge, or only because they've done it themselves in their audiophile lifetimes (don't be embarrassed, we ALL have) and know the feeling? I thought only Benz was reasonable for re-tips.