A 34-year-old woman who was injured in a shark attack at a popular Sydney beach earlier this month briefly woke from an induced coma, her family say.
Leah Stewart was attacked at Coogee Beach on 13 June and sustained life-threatening injuries, including severe bites, multiple fractures, and major blood loss.
After undergoing several surgeries and spending a week on life support, she was woken up for a short period in what her family described as a “miracle”. She told her family “I love you”, and asked whether her daughter was alright.
Ms Stewart remains in intensive care and her family say she faces a long road to recovery, including more surgery.
“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,” Ms Stewart’s brother wrote on a fundraising 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,” Josh Stewart wrote.
“Her first thoughts were with her daughter August and wanted to check she was okay,” Mr Stewart wrote.
“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 family said Ms Stewart had undergone five days of surgery over the past week and was scheduled for “further surgeries today and more through the coming weeks”.
“Leah has a long road ahead and still remains in critical care, but this is such a positive first step and gives us hope for Leah’s long term recovery,” Mr Stewart said.
“Again thank you so much for everyone who continues to support Leah, through your care, prayer, love and generosity.”
A few days ago, Ms Stewart’s brother wrote that her friends were curating a playlist of her favourite songs “to play by her bedside”. “We are currently printing out photos to put into her hospital room to surround her with positive memories, for when she becomes conscious,” he said.
On the day of the attack, an eyewitness named Nicola Logan told the Reuters news agency that she saw a “massive pool of blood” in the water, then “a lady kind of motioning to swim, lots of splashing, and then a ski paddler was out trying to bring her in”.
Over the weekend, hundreds of swimmers braved cold conditions at Coogee Beach to show support for Ms Stewart.
Randwick mayor Dylan Parker said the event was “community at its best”.
“Being out there with the thousands of swimmers, you can just feel the warmth in what was pretty fresh water,” he said.
In response to recent shark attacks, the New South Wales government announced plans for year-round drone surveillance at beaches to improve shark monitoring and public safety.
It also allocated additional funding for shark mitigation measures in Tuesday’s budget, although officials were yet to confirm which beaches would be covered by the drone surveillance programme.
“As a kid I used to surf from Mona Vale to Maroubra. The idea that I’m not comfortably able to do that anymore in my own backyard really hurts”, premier Chris Minns said, referring to an increase in shark sightings and attacks.
“It hurts a lot knowing that maybe something more can be done.”
Australia has recorded nearly 1,300 shark attacks since records began in 1791, and more than 260 deaths.
