Coogee shark attack survivor Leah Stewart has responded to widely-criticised comments made by former AFL player and radio star Brendan Fevola questioning whether her account of the attack included “a lot of mayo”.
“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,” Ms Stewart told nine.com.au on Thursday.
She said she had understood the general sentiment of the comments through news headlines but hadn’t given it much thought.
“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.”
She said the support she’s received from Aussies in her community and across the country has “meant so much to me and my family” and “far outweighed” anything else.
“I have chosen to put my energy where it belongs, into my recovery, into [my daughter] August, and into being grateful for the second chance at life I have been given.”
In a segment on his Fox FM radio show, Fevola questioned the mum’s account of the attack after Ms Stewart told 60 Minutes she punched the shark over and over while fighting for her life.
“She’s missing a limb, like her forearm is gone, and her other arm’s got some scratches and stuff on,” he said.
“I’ve never been in this position, and I wouldn’t understand what would go on, but if a shark was attacking you, you wouldn’t have much time to think I wouldn’t have thought.
“I was on the couch with my wife Alex and my kids going, ‘She’s lying. Too much time to think. You’re not thinking all that, are you?’
“We don’t know but.”
Fevola told listeners he would have reacted differently.
“I would have had a heart attack and I would have been eaten, because I would have pooped myself,” he said.
“But this tough girl punched the shark.”
The Sydney mum was swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach, in Sydney’s east, when she was attacked by a 4 metre great white shark on June 13.
Lifeguards and beachgoers rushed to her aid before she was hospitalised and placed into a coma.
She underwent multiple surgeries, including a partial arm amputation, over several weeks.
Recounting her experience on 60 Minutes this week, Ms Stewart recalled how she struck the shark while it had hold of her thigh and pulled her under the water.
“I just thought of (my daughter) 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.
“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.”
Ms Stewart was helped to shore where trauma specialist Ian Ferguson had stopped for a coffee and rushed over to help.
Dr Ferguson drilled into the bone marrow of her shoulders to get fluids and blood into her body, which has been credited with saving her life.
“I’m here, I’m alive and I can do this. I am constantly aware that on my unluckiest day I somehow survived because of the absolute heroes that could step in and step up,” Ms Stewart said on Instagram.
“I owe my life to them and beyond gratitude, I want to pay forward the absolute army of support I’ve been blessed with.”
‘Literal life savers’
Ms Stewart’s comments come after she was reunited with the “absolute legends” who helped save her life following a horrific attack.
“Got to meet these absolute legends today,” she said on Instagram alongside an image with two of the lifeguards who performed CPR on her during the terrifying ordeal.
“Last time we met they were performing CPR and breathing for me, this time we had a big hug and got to hang out at Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club.
“Thanks for being literal life savers.”