SHE THOUGHT SHE MIGHT NEVER MAKE IT HOME: LEAH STE...

SHE THOUGHT SHE MIGHT NEVER MAKE IT HOME: LEAH STEWART’S HAUNTING ACCOUNT AFTER COOGEE SHARK ATTACK — “WENT FOR A SWIM AND NEVER CAME BACK” BECAME THE TERRI-FYING POSSIBILITY IN HER MIND AS THE MUM FOUGHT DESPERATELY TO SURVIVE THE GREAT WHITE’S ATTACK

A Sydney mum has recounted the heartbreaking weeks she spent away from her young daughter, fearing she’d never see her again after being mauled by a shark in Coogee Beach.

Leah Stewart was swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach on the morning of June 13 when she was attacked by a shark.

Thanks to a rapid response from other beachgoers, she was rushed to hospital and plunged into a coma, where she spent several weeks undergoing surgeries and having part of her arm amputated.

Speaking to Today, Ms Stewart said she had barely spent more than a few hours away from her daughter August before the attack, only to be ripped away from her for weeks with the very slim chance she’d never see her again.
“I’d never been away from her more than a few hours,” she said.
“So then it was two weeks until I could see her for the first time, and it was very confusing for her. And it was so emotional seeing her the first time because she just didn’t know (what happened).
“I went for a swim and never came back.”

Leah Stewart barely spent more than a few hours without her daughter, only to be plunged into a coma for weeks as she clung to life. Picture: 60 Minutes

Doctors told Ms Stewart had she been in the water for a few more seconds, she’d probably wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale.

“I would have bled to death.

“So I am forever grateful to them and it is truly amazing that they were there at that exact right time.”
Ms Stewart said she wanted to write a book dedicated to her daughter about her own strength.
“I’d love to write a book along the lines of mummy loved you so much that even when the scariest thing happened, she was able to get out of that,” she said.
“And that was just because, you know, my love for you is so strong and I am not going anywhere and I’m your mum. And don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

In an interview with 60 Minutes om Sunday, Ms Stewart revealed she had just said goodbye to August on the sand before going for a swim at Coogee Beach on June 13 when, while in the water near shore and between the flags, she heard a woman behind her scream a “shrill shriek”.

“I turned and there was a huge, huge fin behind her, it was massive,” Ms Stewart told the program.

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She started swimming for shore but stopped after a few strokes.

“I could feel movement in the water and I turned around and it was right there,” Ms Stewart said.

Ms Stewart, pictured with partner Fernando Alves, fought back after a great white shark attacked her near shore at Coogee Beach. Picture: 60 Minutes

The shark slowly approached her with its mouth open until it was about “30 centimetres” from her face.

“I’ll never forget its face. It was huge and its teeth and its mouth was massive and its eyes, it’s just black little beady eyes, we were just looking face-to-face.

As she came face-to-face with the 4m great white, Ms Stewart decided to punch it.

Knowing she needed to protect her right hand, she used her left arm to strike at the shark before its jaws shredded her arm.

The shark then seized her thigh and pulled her under.

“When it was holding on to my leg I had the thought, ‘This is it. This is how I die’,” Ms Stewart said.

“Then I just thought of August and I thought, ‘She’s not going to have a mum. She’s going to grow up without a mum’, and I couldn’t handle that,” she said through tears.

“You ugly f**ker, you are not taking me away from my daughter.

A group of strangers on the beach helped save Ms Stewart’s life after she was pulled from the water. Photo: Instagram

“I didn’t want her not to have a mum, so I just thought, ‘I’ve got to fight it. I’m going to do everything I can to be here’.

“I just started punching it over and over and over again, just punch, punch, punch.

“It was like fighting a dinosaur, it was so big. It was like punching a brick wall.”

The attack was the first at Coogee Beach in more than a century and left Ms Stewart critically injured.

At the time of the attack, world champion paddle boarder Charlie Verco – who was training for a race – saw the entire incident unfold.

He saw Ms Stewart re-emerge from the water as the shark let go of her limb, and Mr Verco rushed into the water.

“The biggest thing for me, that was scary at that point is there was so much blood in the water that I couldn’t see into it anymore,” he said.

“I didn’t like the idea of paddling straight into the middle of it, and not being able to see and react to where the shark was underneath us.”

The mum used all her might to punch the shark repeatedly. Picture: 60 Minutes

Ms Stewart can barely remember the moment she was rescued by Mr Verco, but can recall the terrifying fear of the shark returning for another bite.

“As he was doing that, I’m just waiting for the shark to come grab onto my legs and pull me back,” she said.

“But … thank goodness, I got the world record holder for paddling.”

Meanwhile, Coogee Surf Life Saving Club then president Ben Heenan had just finished a swim with his partner, Doctor Kassandra McGregor, when they realised what had happened.

“(We) heard more intense screaming, splashing, and started seeing red in the water and knew that a shark attack had happened,” Mr Heenan told 60 Minutes.

He ran into the water with a board while Ms McGregor called triple-0.

Trauma specialist Dr Ian Ferguson was also nearby, having stopped for a coffee before taking his daughter to dance class.

Riot squad officers patrolling the beach joined the emergency response as well.

Ms Stewart underwent 11 surgeries after suffering catastrophic injuries in the attack. Picture: 60 Minutes

Mr Heenan helped bring Ms Stewart from the surf, putting her within reach of the strangers on the sand whose quick actions helped keep her alive.

Ms Stewart had lost so much blood that doctors could not find a vein, so Dr Ferguson drilled into the bone marrow of both shoulders to get fluids and later blood into her body, a procedure credited with saving her life.

“I was hopeful that she would survive to hospital, but I didn’t think it was a given at that point,” Dr Ferguson said.

The shark tore away the outside muscle of her left thigh. Her left arm was so badly damaged it had to be amputated. Her right hand was also severely injured, with serious nerve and tendon damage.

She was taken to hospital in an extremely dire condition.

Her family then spent 10 days waiting as she underwent 11 surgeries, including skin grafts to the large wound in her thigh. Even while in a coma, she remained trapped in the trauma of the attack.

“When I was in the coma, I was half present and I drift in and out of darkness to reliving the shark attack over and over again,” Ms Stewart said.

Ms Stewart is now learning to use her injured hand again and has returned to Coogee Beach. Picture: 60 Minutes

When she woke, she already knew she had lost her arm.

“I looked to them and I said, ‘Oh, I’m getting phantom pain’,” she said.

“They looked at me and they’re like, ‘What do you mean you’re getting phantom pain?’ and I just said, ‘Because the shark took my arm’.”

Ms Stewart is now back on her feet and learning to use her injured hand again. Before leaving hospital, she wrote thank-you cards to the people who saved her.

She also made clear how she wanted to be remembered.

“I’m not a girl that got mauled on the beach,” she said.

“I’m the woman that punched the shark in the face.

“I’m the woman that fought like hell to be here, to be here for August, and it was the hardest thing in the world, but I fought my way out of there.”

SOURCE:  https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/coogee-shark-attack-survivor-leah-stewart-recounts-fighting-great-white-to-stay-alive-for-her-daughter/news-story/136582eccb29aa4726ec818303d094b0?fbclid=IwcGRvZgFmZGlkFlDYJ-eZ_qg5toTUqPETwnh2c8bpj5BleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeDEO14PLhAi5GPOse9yHh9K4ak4tsIH22SNzifbGAlOIiB_WNx2u5ZK23EEY_aem_F2S4rOBVx6CUv-owjvo0kg