A mother who survived a 4m great white shark attack by punching the animal has told Good Morning Britain she fought because her daughter was "not going to grow up without a mum".
Leah Stewart, 34, was swimming close to the shore at Coogee Beach, Australia, in June when she noticed a large fin in the distance. The shark dragged her underwater, biting her thigh and arms, and she nearly died from blood loss and injuries. Doctors saved her life after amputating her left arm and giving her a blood transfusion.
Shark circled before attack
Recalling the incident, Leah told Good Morning Britain: "We were screaming trying to get the attention of the lifeguards but unfortunately I don't think they saw us and the shark continued to circle the girls behind me."
She said: "I thought: 'Okay, no one's coming. I'm going to try and sort of move closer to shore.' But as soon as I started moving, the shark came directly towards me and it was moving pretty slowly, pretty inquisitively."
Leah described how the shark opened its mouth as it approached, and she knew she had to stop it from biting her body or face. She said: "I'm right-handed so I decided to just throw up my left arm and block it and the shark unfortunately grabbed onto my left arm and just ripped the muscle, the skin, everything off my arm."
Fight for survival
The shark then grabbed her leg and pulled her underwater. Leah said: "It pulled me under the water and I thought, 'this is the moment I die'. I have a beautiful little one-year-old, August, and I just was thinking of her and I thought, 'she's not going to have a mum. She's going to grow up without a mum'."
She added: "I thought, 'I've just got to fight it. I've just got to punch it or do whatever I can to stop it from killing me.' So as it was pulling me under the water, it's grabbing onto my left leg and I just sort of flip myself around and just start punching it as hard as I can. I'm trying to go for its snout or its face."
Leah showed scars on her hands, saying: "That's from me trying to punch its snout. I've kind of missed and hit some of the teeth." Eventually, the shark let her go and she surfaced to find blood in the water.
Rescue and recovery
Leah spotted a man on a board nearby who helped her safely to shore, where a medical doctor tended to her immediately. She said: "I was the most lucky person on my unluckiest day!"
She recalled: "I actually had a blood transfusion on the sand on the beach. He called up a helicopter that brought blood and fluids down to the beach. I'd almost bled to death at this point and he gave me a blood transfusion through my bone marrow on the sand."
Leah said she has not slept in almost 11 weeks since the attack, as it is "constantly replaying in my mind". She added: "But I have a one-year-old daughter. And, you know, I could be in bed crying, feeling really sorry for myself. But when you've got a one-year-old, you can't do that. You just need to get up and keep going."
She said she has "a lot of healing to do" before she can consider getting back into the water, adding: "I don't want to let this experience ruin it entirely, but there's a lot of work to do before I can get to that point."
