A Sydney mother who survived a devastating shark attack has shared new details of the moment she came perilously close to death.
Teacher Leah Stewart, 35, was swimming between the flags at Coogee Beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on June 13 when she was mauled by a shark believed to have been a great white.
Ms Stewart spent two weeks in a coma and underwent several operations, including the amputation of one arm below the elbow.
“I didn’t know this until two weeks ago, that my heart actually stopped as they were taking me to the ambulance, and they were doing CPR,” she told 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham on Wednesday.
The Coogee shark attack survivor was recently reunited with the lifesavers on duty who performed CPR after paddleboarder Charlie Verco pulled her from the water and brought her to shore.
“When they met me, they couldn’t believe I was the same person,” Ms Stewart said.
“They just said, ‘How are you speaking? How are you walking? How are you here?’ They truthfully didn’t think I would make it to the hospital and very nearly, I didn’t.”
She said she feared she would die during the attack, but drew strength from the determination to survive for her one-year-old daughter, August.
Shark attack survivor Leah Stewart, pictured before the attack, has revealed harrowing new details about her ordeal.
Ms Stewart was recently reunited with the lifesavers who performed CPR after her heart stopped following the shark attack.
Close to death, Leah was determined to fight for her one-year-old daughter August
‘I’m like, “You’ve got to give everything to get back to her”,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘When I was back on the beach, that’s when it got and continued to be so hard. I couldn’t breathe because I’d lost so much blood.
‘I think there was maybe five to 10 minutes where I could not breathe, and I knew that if I fainted, I probably wouldn’t wake up again.
‘And so I’m holding my breath just thinking, “You cannot give up because you won’t get back to her”.’
Three months on, Ms Stewart is still adjusting to her new life and re-learning to do simple everyday tasks.
Her fiancé Fernando still helps with many of those tasks such as doing her hair, getting dressed and brushing her teeth.
‘It’s really hard for me at the moment. What people don’t see is that I have to sleep or be lying down most of the day,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘I’ll do one of these events to come and see people, and then I’m out for the rest of the day. So I’m just building up my energy at the moment. I was very excited, just this week, I made my own coffee.’
Ms Stewart (pictured with NSW Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday at the 2GB studios) is unsure whether she will swim in the ocean again
Ms Stewart only found out a fortnight ago that her heart stopped after she was pulled to shore
Ms Stewart enjoyed a walk with her daughter, August, on Tuesday, just four days after she had a skin graft on an open wound on her left leg
Last week, Ms Stewart returned to hospital for a skin graft on an open wound on her left leg, which has required a small machine to remove fluid.
‘At the moment, my leg is still open,’ she told Fordham.
‘If you imagine a surfboard and you see a bite taken out of it by a shark, that’s what my leg looked like.
‘When I was on the beach that day, everyone was more concerned about my leg than my arm. But because you can’t see it, people don’t talk about it.’
Ms Stewart hopes to eventually return to primary teaching and might visit Hurstville Adventist School to see her pupils and colleagues as early as this week.
‘It’s a really hard one because I’m still trying to figure out how to approach it with the kids because it’s a bit of a scary sort of subject, and they all know what’s happened,’ she said.
‘I would love to give them some encouragement that you can get through hard things. Because for me, this felt impossible.’
The avid swimmer admitted that she doesn’t know if she will ever return to the ocean.
Ms Stewart (pictured recently with fiancé Fernando on 60 Minutes) said she has vivid memories of her terrifying ordeal
‘I’m not planning to go in the ocean, but I would love to get back to swimming in a pool because for me, that is my happy place,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘I’ve been doing it since I was six months old, and it’s how I can get stronger. I don’t know about the ocean. If the drones are up and there’s a shark net, maybe yeah, eventually.’
Earlier this week, Ms Stewart shared a heartwarming photo of herself holding her daughter August’s hand during a walk.
‘I truly count myself lucky. I’ve still got a hand to hold hers,’ she said.
‘I’m slower now, but that means more time to stop and explore every ant, flower or leaf we pass.
‘I missed a few months with her but get to spend the rest of my life appreciating every moment we do have.’