'Not taking me away from my daughter': Leah Stewart recalls fighting off shark

Leah Stewart, a 35-year-old teacher from Coogee in Sydney, Australia, survived a terrifying great white shark attack on June 13. She was finishing her swim at Coogee Beach when a four-metre-long shark attacked her, biting her arms and legs and causing her to lose a large amount of blood. Doctors later had to amputate her lower left arm. Despite everything, Stewart says her love for her daughter and her own fighting spirit kept her alive.

Stewart spoke about the attack in an interview on the television program 60 Minutes. She said that when the shark was just 30 centimetres from her face and dragging her underwater, she had to make a fast decision. "Well, which limb am I willing to lose?" she recalled asking herself. Because she is right-handed, she chose to fight back with her left arm.

Stewart described throwing punch after punch at the massive shark. "I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again," she said. "It was like fighting a dinosaur. It was so big. It was like punching a brick wall." She believes one of her punches landed hard enough that the shark finally let her go.

An off-duty volunteer lifeguard named Charlie Verco was nearby, training for a paddleboarding competition. He spotted Stewart struggling in the water and paddled over to help. Even with her serious injuries, Stewart was able to hold onto a drink bottle holder on the front of his board. Verco later said the water "got very bloody" and that the shark had been "so big and powerful."

When Stewart was pulled to shore, lifeguards and an off-duty doctor performed CPR while waiting for an ambulance. Officers from the riot squad, who happened to be patrolling nearby after a separate attack at Bondi, used tourniquets to help slow her blood loss. A tourniquet is a tight band used to stop bleeding. Stewart was then placed in a medically induced coma — a deep, doctor-controlled sleep — for more than a week at St Vincent's Hospital.

During her long recovery, more than $550,000 was donated online by people who wanted to support Stewart and her family. Last week, she posted an update saying she is grateful to be alive. "I feel like I've been given a second chance at life, and I'm not going to waste it," she wrote. Her recovery has taken months and has involved several operations.

Stewart's story has also brought attention to shark safety along the New South Wales coast. New shark mitigation measures — steps taken to reduce the risk of shark attacks — are being rolled out just as spring swimming season begins. For the first time, two shark detection buoys have been placed in Sydney Harbour to alert people when sharks are nearby.

The state government is also expanding its drone surveillance program, which uses flying cameras to watch for sharks from the air. The program will now cover more than 90 beaches, with at least one drone operating in every local area on weekends, and one running every day of the year from sunrise to sunset. Marcel Green, who leads the shark management program, said it will be "the most comprehensive drone coverage in the world." Shark nets will also be reinstalled at 51 beaches to help keep swimmers safe.