A mother who punched a great white shark in the face during an attack at a Sydney beach has revealed the thought that kept her fighting for her life.
Leah Stewart, 34, was swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach in New South Wales, Australia, in June when she was mauled by the predator. The primary school teacher underwent multiple surgeries and spent two weeks in a coma. One procedure saw her lose one of her arms, while her other arm suffered serious tendon and nerve damage.
Deciding which limb to lose
In an interview with Nine News, Leah recalled the moment she came face-to-face with the shark: "It got to the point where it was about 30cm from my face and it started opening its mouth."
"I'm like, 'It's going to get my face, it's going to bite my face'... I'm like, 'I've got to try and punch it. I've got to try and push it away or else it's going to bite my head off'."
She continued: "And in that moment I thought, 'Well, which limb am I willing to lose?' I'm right-handed. So I decided, let's do a left hook."
Fighting for her daughter
Leah previously recounted how her survival instincts kicked in during the attack as she fought the beast for the sake of her baby girl, August.
"Its face was horrific - I will never forget (it)," she exclaimed. "It was a monster. It was holding onto my leg. All I was thinking of was August and I thought, 'she's not going to have a mum'. I just thought, 'I've got to fight it and do everything I can to be here'."
She added that, despite her harrowing experience, she doesn't want to be remembered as "a girl that got mauled on the beach". She added: "I'm the woman that punched the shark in the face."
Leah's interview also features the emergency 000 call as she lay injured. "Hi, we've got a shark attack at Coogee Beach... there's a lot of blood," a beachgoer can be heard telling the operator.
Recovery and gratitude
As her recovery continues, Leah's family have set up a GoFundMe, which as of August 28 had seen donations surpass $558,000 AUD [£295,000].
A message from Leah on the account reads: "I want to say the biggest thank you for looking after me, for caring for my family, and for being generous enough to help my family through this. I am constantly overwhelmed at how supportive people I know, and even strangers, have been, and how much they’ve cared about my family to make such an impact on our lives."
She went on to add: "After what has been an incredibly difficult few months, I’m so happy that I’ve progressed enough to build some independence, and I can finally see some light after all of this. At this point, I think it’s appropriate for us to turn off donations on the GoFundMe, because what you’ve offered has given us enough to recover, to stay in our home, and to give us options for further medical treatment down the road."
Leah closed by expressing her gratefulness at her "second chance of life" - one which she has vowed not to "waste".
"As I get better, I know I’ll make something of this second chance and aim to give back even more in generosity, care, and love," she declared. "I will forever be grateful for everything, and everyone, I’ve been given. You've inspired me to get better, not bitter."
Leah also expressed her gratitude to Charlie Verco, a championship paddleboarder who pulled her from the water before emergency responders and medical teams arrived to treat her on the beach.
The incident was followed by an expansion of shark-spotting drones along the New South Wales coastline. Since July 1, drones have been deployed at 70 beaches, including every Sydney beach between Palm Beach and Cronulla.
