Shark attack survivor Leah Stewart says punching a four-metre great white shark repeatedly as it dragged her underwater was like "fighting a dinosaur" — and that the thought of watching her daughter grow up was the driving force that kept her fighting. The 35-year-old Coogee teacher has spoken publicly for the first time since the terrifying attack at Coogee Beach in Sydney's east on June 13, which left her on life support and cost her her left arm.
The moment Leah Stewart fought back against the shark
Stewart described a split-second decision as the shark came within 30 centimetres of her face and pulled her beneath the surface. Knowing she had to act, she made a calculated choice about which limb she could afford to sacrifice.
"I'm right-handed, so I decided, 'Let's do a left hook'," she said in her first interview since the attack. "And I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again. Just punch, punch, punch."
She described the shark as impossibly powerful and enormous — like striking solid concrete. "It was like fighting a dinosaur. It was so big. It was like punching a brick wall. I think I must have got a really good one in. And so it let me go."
Stewart said survival mode took over entirely, fuelled by a fierce determination not to be taken from her daughter. Her will to see her child grow up, she said, was simply not negotiable.
Rescue, emergency treatment and long road to recovery
Stewart was finishing her swim when the shark struck. An off-duty volunteer lifeguard, 25-year-old Charlie Verco, was training for a paddleboarding competition nearby when he spotted her thrashing in the water. Despite her catastrophic injuries, Verco managed to get Stewart to hold onto a drink bottle holder on the front of his board and brought her to shore.
Verco had previously described the moment he witnessed the attack, saying the shark "was so big and powerful," and that the water turned heavily bloodied before Stewart resurfaced after being pulled under.
Once on shore, lifeguards and an off-duty doctor performed CPR while waiting for paramedics. Officers from the riot squad — who had been deployed to the area following the Bondi terror attack and were carrying tourniquets — applied them to help stem the severe blood loss. Stewart was transported to St Vincent's Hospital, where she was placed in a medically induced coma for more than a week and underwent multiple operations, including the amputation of her left lower arm.
The attack left her with bite injuries across her arms and legs and extreme blood loss. She has since spent months in recovery. For others who have faced similar ordeals, the experience of surviving a shark attack and the long road back to health is a deeply challenging journey shared by too many Australians.
Community support and Stewart's message of hope
The public response to Stewart's ordeal was overwhelming. More than $550,000 was donated through a fundraising page set up to support her and her family. In an update posted on the page last week, Stewart wrote: "I feel like I've been given a second chance at life, and I'm not going to waste it."
New shark mitigation measures rolled out across NSW
Stewart's interview has aired as New South Wales introduces a significant expansion of its shark safety infrastructure ahead of spring. For the first time, two shark detection buoys have been installed in Sydney Harbour — one near Balmoral on the lower north shore and another at Lady Bay in the harbour's east.
From this week, expanded shark drone surveillance will cover more than 90 beaches across the state. The head of the state government's shark management program, Marcel Green, said NSW would have the most comprehensive drone coverage anywhere in the world.
"Every weekend, at least one drone in every LGA is now going to have weekend coverage, and one drone in every LGA will be covered 365 days of the year from dawn til dusk," Green said.
The expanded measures represent a major investment in ocean safety as beach season approaches — and for Leah Stewart, they come as she continues her own remarkable recovery, determined to make the most of a second chance she fought, quite literally, to secure.
