A devoted mother and teacher who lost her arm in a terrifying shark attack during an early morning swim briefly woke from a medically induced coma and told her family, “I love you,” before doctors sedated her again.
Leah Stewart, 35, shared the emotional words more than a week after she was critically injured by a great white shark off Sydney’s famed Coogee Beach in Australia, her brother, Joshua Stewart, said in an update Tuesday.
“Some really wonderful news for Leah today. After a week of life support and repeat surgeries, doctors were able to extubate Leah and reduce her level of sedation to bring her out of the induced coma for a short period of time,” Joshua wrote in a message posted to her GoFundMe page.
“This allowed Leah to share her first words, ‘I love you’, with her Mum and partner Fernando, who have been by her side in ICU since the incident.”
According to her family, Stewart’s “first thoughts” were with her baby daughter, August, who was on the beach when the attack unfolded about 100 feet from shore.
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“This is a lot faster than anyone expected, and for us this feels like a miracle and is everything so many of us have hoped and prayed for over the past week,” her brother added.
Stewart, whose arm was amputated following the attack, remains in intensive care and is expected to require significant medical treatment for “some time,” her family said.
She suffered severe, life-threatening injuries, including multiple bites to her arms and legs, deep lacerations, fractures and massive blood loss.
She was pulled out of the water by an off-duty lifeguard, and a critical care doctor who happened to be on the beach worked with first responders to help stabilize her.
The mom will continue to have multiple surgeries in the coming weeks, but her loved ones are optimistic that her first words are a “positive step” in her long-term recovery.
Stewart is an accomplished swimmer who swam over 30 miles to raise money for breast cancer research and, in 2024, competed in the Coogee Island Challenge, an annual 1.5-mile race.
A GoFundMe seeking donations for her recovery has raised over $505,028 of its AU$550,000 goal.
