A Sydney woman who survived a shark attack described how she fought back against a four-metre-long great white, repeatedly punching the predator as it dragged her under the water.
Leah Stewart, 35, was swimming at Coogee Beach on 13 June when the shark attacked, leaving her with extensive injuries and requiring the amputation of her left lower arm.
She spent over a week in a medically induced coma and underwent multiple operations.
Speaking to Nine’s 60 Minutes, Ms Stewart recalled the terrifying moment she realised the shark was approaching. She said the animal was enormous and initially looked so unfamiliar she had to convince herself it was not a dolphin.
When the animal came close to her face, Ms Stewart said that she began thinking about what she might need to sacrifice to survive.
“Well, which limb am I willing to lose?” she recalled thinking to herself. “I’m right-handed, so I decided, ‘Let’s do a left hook.’”
The shark seized her forearm before grabbing her leg and pulling her underwater.
Ms Stewart said her thoughts immediately turned to her daughter, August. “And I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again. Just punch, punch, punch.”
She compared it to fighting a dinosaur. “It was like fighting a dinosaur. It was so big. It was like punching a brick wall.”
Ms Stewart said that one of her punches eventually forced the shark to release her. “I think I must have got a really good one in,” she said. “And so it let me go.”
She was helped towards shore by off-duty volunteer lifeguard Charlie Verco, who had been training nearby on a paddleboard. He helped her hold on to his board before bringing her to safety.
“The water got very bloody and she got taken under and after a few seconds, popped up again, and the shark had let her go,” Mr Verco told the ABC earlier.
Ms Stewart was losing a great deal of blood when she came ashore.
Lifeguards and an off-duty doctor performed CPR and police officers used tourniquets to help control the bleeding.
Months after the attack, Ms Stewart said the experience changed her outlook on life. In an update to a fundraising page supporting her recovery, she wrote: “I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at life, and I’m not going to waste it.”
Despite everything she endured, Ms Stewart said she didn’t want the attack to define her. “I am the woman that punched the shark in the face,” she said.
New shark-mitigation measures are being introduced along the New South Wales coast ahead of spring, including two new shark-detection buoys in Sydney Harbour near Balmoral and Lady Bay.
Drone surveillance is reportedly being expanded to over 90 beaches, with year-round dawn-to-dusk coverage in each local government area, and shark nets are being reinstalled at 51 beaches.