Shark attack survivor Leah Stewart has been seen in Sydney spending Father’s Day with her young family, in one of her most public outings since the ordeal.
The 35-year-old, who drew national attention after surviving a terrifying encounter with a great white shark at Coogee Beach, appeared upbeat as she made the most of the spring sunshine on Sunday.
Stewart was joined by her husband, Fernando, and their one-year-old daughter, August, for a walk through a coastal park in Sydney’s east — an area where she had often swum before the June 13 attack.
The schoolteacher spent 10 days in a coma after the near-fatal shark attack. Doctors were forced to amputate her left arm, and her survival has prompted an extraordinary wave of public support.
Stewart recently felt well enough to speak publicly about what happened, sharing her account last Sunday on 60 Minutes, where she gave a detailed and emotional description of the attack and her escape.
She recalled looking into the shark’s “black little beady eyes” and said thoughts of her daughter helped give her the strength to keep fighting.
Stewart also said that, in the chaos of the moment, she had time to decide to strike the shark with her left arm because it was the limb she was “more willing to lose”.
Following the broadcast, Melbourne radio presenters Kate Langbroek, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody of 101.9 The Fox picked up on that detail, suggesting Stewart had put “a lot of mayo on” the account — Australian slang for exaggerating the story.
Leah Stewart (pictured on Sunday with her partner and daughter) survived a shark attack at Coogee Beach on June 13
Ms Stewart said she’d been too ‘busy’ to see claims she’d embellished her shark attack story
Ms Stewart was spotted celebrating Father’s Day out-and-about in Sydney on Sunday
She said on Thursday she hadn’t listened to the radio show or read any hurtful comments.
‘I have been so busy with my rehabilitation and embracing being home with my family that I haven’t had a chance to listen to the segment. I have picked up the general sentiment from a few headlines, but I haven’t given it much thought,’ she told Nine.
‘What I do know is that everyone who was on that beach with me, my incredible medical team at St Vincent’s, and every first responder who helped save my life that day, they know what happened. And so do I.’
Instead, the mother has focused her attention on the positive wishes she has received from viewers.
‘I am genuinely blown away by the support from Australians, and the wider community. It has meant so much to me and my family,’ she said.
‘The love and support from this country has far outweighed anything else. I am just so grateful.’
During the interview, she recalled how she saw the four-metre beast swim up to her in the moments before it sank its razor-sharp teeth into her thigh and arm.
She then described being dragged under the water and was convinced she would die, but then she thought of her daughter.
Ms Stewart had described thinking of her daughter, August, during the horror attack
Ms Stewart was a regular swimmer at Coogee prior to the attack
‘She’s not going to have a mum. She’s going to grow up without a mum’ she recalled thinking.
This became a turning point and she fought back even harder.
‘I twisted myself around, and I just started punching it over and over and over again, just punch, punch, punch,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘It was like fighting a dinosaur, it was so big. It was like punching a brick wall.
‘I was like, ”You ugly f***er, you are not taking me away from my daughter.”’
A day after the interview aired, Fevola brought up the interview on the trio’s morning radio show and questioned how Ms Stewart had ‘so much time to think’.
‘I was on the couch with my wife going, ”She’s lying! Too much time to think!” You’re not thinking all that are you?’ Fevola said.
Co-host Langbroek tried to defend Ms Stewart.
Several off-duty lifesavers and medical personnel happened to be on Coogee Beach on the day of the attack (pictured are emergency services at the scene)
Ms Stewart had her left arm amputated and suffered significant damage to her left leg and right arm
‘Mercifully, we don’t know,’ she cautioned Fevola.
‘But it does seem unusual. The only other person I know who’s punched a shark is (professional surfer) Mick Fanning.
‘He said at the time he didn’t even have a chance to think about what he was doing, it was like a reflex.’
But Fevola was adamant Ms Stewart was embellishing the story, especially her claim she had time to think which arm she was ‘willing to lose’.
‘Come on, oh right or left? Like bro, you are amazing – you punched a shark in the face and survived – but you’re not thinking all that,’ he said.
‘That’s a lot of mayo.’
Ms Stewart had suffered extensive blood loss from the attack, with a trauma doctor who happened to be on the beach saying he had to drill into her shoulder to give blood transfusions directly into the bone marrow because he couldn’t find a vein.
But, thankfully, has suffered no cognitive damage, though she has damage to her left leg and right arm.
The biggest injury, however, was her left arm which had to be amputated.
Ms Stewart said she still struggles to come to terms with her new disability.
‘There’s good days and bad days. For me, I’m still coming to terms that (my arm’s) not there,’ she said.
‘I get really frustrated. August will put up her hands and she’ll want me to pick her up. I’m just desperate too, I just can’t.’
She said she’s doing her best to focus on the ‘small wins’.
‘It’s about the little things, like now I can brush my teeth,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘I’m really proud of that. It’s so nice to brush your own teeth, not someone else doing it for you.’
