Leah Stewart’s first words were “I love you” to her mother and partner after doctors reduced her sedation and brought her out of an induced coma more than a week after she was mauled by a great white shark at Sydney’s Coogee Beach.
The 34-year-old teacher and mother of a one-year-old daughter, August, underwent five days of surgery including an arm amputation after the attack on 13 June. She remains in intensive care, with further operations scheduled in the coming weeks.
“Leah Stewart woke briefly from a coma 10 days after a great white shark attack, saying 'I love you' to her family.”
“This is a lot faster than anyone expected, and for us this feels like a miracle,” her brother Joshua Stewart posted in an online message. “Her first thoughts were with her daughter … and wanted to check she was OK.”
Stewart, 35 according to some accounts, had been swimming close to the shore when the shark struck. An off-duty lifeguard, Charlie Verco, who was paddleboarding nearby, pulled her onto his board and brought her to the beach, where she received multiple blood transfusions before being airlifted to St Vincent’s Hospital.
A crowdfunding page set up to cover her medical expenses, rehabilitation and prosthetic limbs has raised more than $488,000.
The attack has reignited tensions over sharks off Sydney’s coast. A drone video circulating on social media showed what appeared to be a great white close to shore at Bondi Beach early on Wednesday morning, leading lifeguards to close the beach. The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries confirmed a tiger shark had been detected at Bondi on Tuesday afternoon, and Bondi was also briefly closed on Sunday due to a shark sighting.
“White sharks are present over a wide range of sea surface temperatures … with data from our tagged sharks indicating that most juvenile white sharks move northward along the NSW coast in late autumn and early winter,” the DPI said in a statement.
While some have called for a cull, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said great whites could not be targeted because the species is protected. He announced that the state would soon roll out “world-leading” shark drones across more beaches, using technology not yet deployed at scale anywhere else.
Stewart’s brother said her recovery remains a long road: “She still remains in critical care, but this is such a positive first step and gives us hope for Leah’s long-term recovery.”