A Sydney mum has recounted the heartbreaking weeks she spent away from her young daughter, fearing she\u2019d never see her again after being mauled by a shark in Coogee Beach.<\/p>\n
Leah Stewart was swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach on the morning of June 13 when she was attacked by a shark.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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\u2019d never see her again.
\u201cI\u2019d never been away from her more than a few hours,\u201d she said.
\u201cSo 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\u2019t know (what happened).
\u201cI went for a swim and never came back.\u201d <\/p>\n
Doctors told Ms Stewart had she been in the water for a few more seconds, she\u2019d probably wouldn\u2019t be alive to tell the tale. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would have bled to death.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I am forever grateful to them and it is truly amazing that they were there at that exact right time.\u201d
Ms Stewart said she wanted to write a book dedicated to her daughter about her own strength.
\u201cI\u2019d 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,\u201d she said.
\u201cAnd that was just because, you know, my love for you is so strong and I am not going anywhere and I\u2019m your mum. And don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ve got you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201cshrill shriek\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI turned and there was a huge, huge fin behind her, it was massive,\u201d Ms Stewart told the program.<\/p>\n
She started swimming for shore but stopped after a few strokes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could feel movement in the water and I turned around and it was right there,\u201d Ms Stewart said.<\/p>\n
The shark slowly approached her with its mouth open until it was about \u201c30 centimetres\u201d from her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never forget its face. It was huge and its teeth and its mouth was massive and its eyes, it\u2019s just black little beady eyes, we were just looking face-to-face.<\/p>\n
As she came face-to-face with the 4m great white, Ms Stewart decided to punch it. <\/p>\n
Knowing she needed to protect her right hand, she used her left arm to strike at the shark before its jaws shredded her arm.<\/p>\n
The shark then seized her thigh and pulled her under.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it was holding on to my leg I had the thought, \u2018This is it. This is how I die\u2019,\u201d Ms Stewart said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I just thought of August and I thought, \u2018She\u2019s not going to have a mum. She\u2019s going to grow up without a mum\u2019, and I couldn\u2019t handle that,\u201d she said through tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ugly f**ker, you are not taking me away from my daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want her not to have a mum, so I just thought, \u2018I\u2019ve got to fight it. I\u2019m going to do everything I can to be here\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just started punching it over and over and over again, just punch, punch, punch.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like fighting a dinosaur, it was so big. It was like punching a brick wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack was the first at Coogee Beach in more than a century and left Ms Stewart critically injured.<\/p>\n
At the time of the attack, world champion paddle boarder Charlie Verco \u2013 who was training for a race \u2013 saw the entire incident unfold. <\/p>\n
He saw Ms Stewart re-emerge from the water as the shark let go of her limb, and Mr Verco rushed into the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing for me, that was scary at that point is there was so much blood in the water that I couldn\u2019t see into it anymore,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs he was doing that, I\u2019m just waiting for the shark to come grab onto my legs and pull me back,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut \u2026 thank goodness, I got the world record holder for paddling.\u201d <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201c(We) heard more intense screaming, splashing, and started seeing red in the water and knew that a shark attack had happened,\u201d Mr Heenan told 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n
He ran into the water with a board while Ms McGregor called triple-0. <\/p>\n
Trauma specialist Dr Ian Ferguson was also nearby, having stopped for a coffee before taking his daughter to dance class. <\/p>\n
Riot squad officers patrolling the beach joined the emergency response as well.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hopeful that she would survive to hospital, but I didn\u2019t think it was a given at that point,\u201d Dr Ferguson said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She was taken to hospital in an extremely dire condition.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen 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,\u201d Ms Stewart said.<\/p>\n
When she woke, she already knew she had lost her arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked to them and I said, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m getting phantom pain\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey looked at me and they\u2019re like, \u2018What do you mean you\u2019re getting phantom pain?\u2019 and I just said, \u2018Because the shark took my arm\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She also made clear how she wanted to be remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a girl that got mauled on the beach,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the woman that punched the shark in the face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n