Shark attack survivor punched great white
A Sydney teacher who lost an arm in a shark attack describes fighting off the four-metre great white with her fists to survive for her daughter.
Leah Stewart, a 34-year-old teacher and mother, lost her arm after a shark attack at Coogee beach in Sydney on 13 June. She remained in a critical condition for over two weeks following the incident, which required the amputation of her arm due to life-threatening injuries.
In her first interview since the attack, given to Nine's 60 Minutes, Stewart described the moment she saw the great white shark. She screamed loudly, hoping lifeguards would hear. A minute passed with no rescue. The shark came within about 30cm of her face. She remembers its black, beady eyes.
"Its face was horrific. I'll never forget its face," Stewart said.
The decision to fight
Seeing the shark open its mouth, Stewart realized she had to act. "It's going to get my face … I've got to try and punch it," she recalled thinking. Being right-handed, she made a split-second choice. She asked herself which limb she was willing to lose and decided to throw a left hook.
The following moments felt like slow motion. Stewart described it as being like fighting a dinosaur. In her head, she thought, "you ugly fucker, you are not taking me away from my daughter." She twisted around and began punching the shark over and over. "It was so big. It was like punching a brick wall," she said.
The shark bit her left arm and thigh before help arrived. Lying on the beach, drifting in and out of consciousness, Stewart thought of her one-year-old daughter, August. She felt her life slipping away. A vision of her daughter stopped her. "I thought, 'she's not going to have a mum. She's going to grow up without a mum.' I couldn't handle that," Stewart told the program.
Recovery and resolve
Stewart spent several weeks in intensive care. She is still coming to terms with her life-changing injuries. She gets frustrated when her daughter, August, wants to be picked up and she cannot do it. "I do have a disability, but I don't want that to hold me back," Stewart stated.
She said she is determined to conquer her new challenges and be the best version of herself. The experience has given her a knowledge and power she did not have before. Stewart reframed the event for herself. "I wasn't just a girl that got mauled on the beach … I'm the woman that punched the shark in the face," she said. She considers it a second chance.
