SHE FOUGHT A GREAT WHITE TO LIVE — NOW LEAH STEWART SPENDS FATHER’S DAY WITH HER HUSBAND AND LITTLE GIRL: ONE QUIET FAMILY OUTING AFTER A STORM OF HEARTBREAK AND DOUBT
Shark attack survivor Leah Stewart has been spotted out and about in Sydney enjoying Father’s Day with her young family.
The 35-year-old – who made headlines after narrowly escaping with her life when she fought off a great white shark at Coogee Beach – seemed in high spirits enjoying the spring sunshine on Sunday.
She was accompanied by her husband, Fernando, and their one-year-old daughter, August, and enjoyed a coastal park walk in the city’s east – where she had been a regular swimmer prior to the June 13 shark attack.
Ms Stewart spent ten days in a coma following her near-death experience with the great white. Her left arm had to be amputated and her story has garnered a massive outpouring of support from the community.
The schoolteacher finally recovered enough to publicly tell her story last Sunday on 60 Minutes and vividly recalled how the attack and her miraculous escape unfolded.
She described the shark’s ‘black little beady eyes’ staring back at her and how the thought of her daughter gave her the resolve to fight back.
Also, she described being able to have enough time to think that she should punch the shark with her left arm because that was the one she was ‘more willing to lose’.
After the interview went to air, Melbourne radio hosts Kate Langbroek, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody, from 101.9 The Fox, seized on that part of the story and accused Ms Stewart of putting ‘a lot of mayo on’ – or embellishing – her story.
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Leah Stewart (pictured on Sunday with her partner and daughter) survived a shark attack at Coogee Beach on June 13
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Ms Stewart said she’d been too ‘busy’ to see claims she’d embellished her shark attack story
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Ms Stewart was spotted celebrating Father’s Day out-and-about in Sydney on Sunday
She said on Thursday she hadn’t listened to the radio show or read any hurtful comments.
‘I have been so busy with my rehabilitation and embracing being home with my family that I haven’t had a chance to listen to the segment. I have picked up the general sentiment from a few headlines, but I haven’t given it much thought,’ she told Nine.
‘What I do know is that everyone who was on that beach with me, my incredible medical team at St Vincent’s, and every first responder who helped save my life that day, they know what happened. And so do I.’
Instead, the mother has focused her attention on the positive wishes she has received from viewers.
‘I am genuinely blown away by the support from Australians, and the wider community. It has meant so much to me and my family,’ she said.
‘The love and support from this country has far outweighed anything else. I am just so grateful.’
During the interview, she recalled how she saw the four-metre beast swim up to her in the moments before it sank its razor-sharp teeth into her thigh and arm.
She then described being dragged under the water and was convinced she would die, but then she thought of her daughter.
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Ms Stewart had described thinking of her daughter, August, during the horror attack
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Ms Stewart was a regular swimmer at Coogee prior to the attack
‘She’s not going to have a mum. She’s going to grow up without a mum’ she recalled thinking.
This became a turning point and she fought back even harder.
‘I twisted myself around, and I just started punching it over and over and over again, just punch, punch, punch,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘It was like fighting a dinosaur, it was so big. It was like punching a brick wall.
‘I was like, ”You ugly f***er, you are not taking me away from my daughter.”’
A day after the interview aired, Fevola brought it up on the trio’s morning radio show and questioned how Ms Stewart had time to run through scenarios in her mind.
‘I was on the couch with my wife going, ”She’s lying! Too much time to think!” You’re not thinking all that, are you?’ Fevola said.
Co-host Langbroek tried to defend Ms Stewart.
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Several off-duty lifesavers and medical personnel happened to be on Coogee Beach on the day of the attack (pictured are emergency services at the scene)
‘Mercifully, we don’t know,’ she cautioned Fevola.
‘But it does seem unusual. The only other person I know who’s punched a shark is Mick Fanning.’
Professional surfer Fanning was attacked by a great white at the J-Bay Open in South Africa back in 2015.
‘He said at the time he didn’t even have a chance to think about what he was doing, it was like a reflex,’ Langbroek said.
But Fevola was adamant Ms Stewart was embellishing the story, especially her claim she had time to consider which arm she was ‘willing to lose’.
‘Right or left? Like bro, you are amazing – you punched a shark in the face and survived – but you’re not thinking all that,’ he said.
‘That’s a lot of mayo.’
Ms Stewart had suffered extensive blood loss from the attack.
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Ms Stewart had her left arm amputated and suffered significant damage to her left leg and right arm
A trauma doctor who happened to be on the beach said he had to drill into her shoulder to give blood transfusions directly into the bone marrow because he couldn’t find a vein.
Thankfully, she suffered no cognitive damage from that, though she does have damage to her left leg and right arm.
The biggest injury, however, was her left arm, which had to be amputated.
Ms Stewart said she still struggles to come to terms with her new disability.
‘There’s good days and bad days. For me, I’m still coming to terms that (my arm’s) not there,’ she said.
‘I get really frustrated. August will put up her hands and she’ll want me to pick her up. I’m just desperate too, I just can’t.’
She said she’s doing her best to focus on the ‘small wins’.
‘It’s about the little things, like now I can brush my teeth,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘I’m really proud of that. It’s so nice to brush your own teeth, not someone else doing it for you.’
SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16109223/shark-attack-Sydney-Coogee-Leah-Stewart.html
