Leah Stewart, a 35-year-old teacher and mother from Sydney, has spoken publicly for the first time about surviving a great white shark attack at Coogee Beach on 13 June 2026, the first such attack there in over a century. Ms Stewart, who was swimming relatively close to shore, fought off the four-metre shark by punching it repeatedly after thinking of her one-year-old daughter, August, and refusing to let her "grow up without a mum." Her survival, and that of her willingness to recount the ordeal to Australian programme 60 Minutes, highlights both the rarity of the attack and the extraordinary chain of rescue that followed.

Ms Stewart was saved by a series of bystanders, including paddleboarder Charlie Verco, off-duty lifesaver Ben Heenan, doctor Kassandra McGregor and trauma specialist Dr Ian Ferguson, who used tourniquets and bone-marrow infusions to keep her alive after her blood loss made it impossible to find a vein. She spent ten days in a coma at St Vincent's Hospital and underwent 11 surgeries, resulting in the amputation of her left arm, before waking on 23 June with her mother, Christine, and partner, Fernando, by her side. Her first words upon regaining consciousness were "I love you," spoken to her mother.