{"id":1019517,"date":"2026-08-23T18:44:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T18:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1019517\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T18:44:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T18:44:37","slug":"sydney-shark-attack-victim-leah-stewart-speaks-for-first-time-about-second-chance-at-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1019517\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney shark attack victim Leah Stewart speaks for first time about ‘second chance at life’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney shark attack victim Leah Stewart says she has not fully recovered more than two months after the incident, but feels like she has been given a “second chance at life”.<\/p>\n

Ms Stewart’s family had previously provided updates on her condition on a fundraising site. On Sunday she wrote for the first time about her experience.<\/p>\n

“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,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I want you to know that I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at life, and I’m not going to waste it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Leah Stewart says the past few months have been “incredibly difficult”. (Supplied: Stewart family)<\/p>\n

On June 13, Ms Stewart was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital in a critical condition after being mauled by a white shark while she was out for a morning swim, between the flags and close to the shore, at Coogee Beach in Sydney’s east.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old was bitten on her leg and arms, suffered multiple fractures throughout her body and lost a lot of blood.<\/p>\n

She was in an induced coma for days and underwent multiple surgeries, including the amputation of one of her arms.<\/p>\n

‘My recovery has been remarkable’<\/p>\n

The mother-of-one said she has been focusing on her healing and doing everything in her “power to get back to some sort of normal life”.<\/p>\n

“I still have a long way to go, but my recovery has been remarkable.”<\/p>\n

More than $500,000 has been raised to aid her recuperation, and while Ms Stewart profusely thanked the community for its generosity, she said it was time to “turn off donations”.<\/p>\n

“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,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Leah Stewart says the support she has received has “inspired me to get better, not bitter”. (Supplied: Stewart family)<\/p>\n

She added the support she had received locally and from all over the world had contributed to her recovery.<\/p>\n

“You’ve inspired me to get better, not bitter.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

About 11 days after the attack, the 35-year-old teacher spoke to her family for the first time after she was briefly woken from an induced coma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Her first words, at the time, to her husband and mother were “I love you”.<\/p>\n

“Her first thoughts were with her daughter, August, and wanted to check she was OK,” Ms Stewart’s brother said.<\/p>\n

NSW has experienced a number of shark-related incidents this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In January, 12-year-old Nico Antic died in hospital after he was attacked at Vaucluse.<\/p>\n

Later that month, musician Andre de Ruyter lost his leg after he was bitten by a suspected bull shark at Manly Beach.<\/p>\n

The attacks have led to an expansion of a drone surveillance program, which now covers 72 beaches along the NSW coast from dawn to dusk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney shark attack victim Leah Stewart says she has not fully recovered more than two months after the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1019518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[408024,4740,408021,408025,5755,3206,408022,408020,50,408023],"class_list":["post-1019517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-andre-de-ruyter","tag-australia","tag-coogee-beach-shark-attack","tag-drone-surveillance","tag-drones","tag-great-white-shark","tag-june-13-shark-attack","tag-leah-stewart","tag-news","tag-nico-antic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117146307133706752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1019517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1019518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1019517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1019517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1019517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}