It’s amazing that Leah Stewart is still alive. In June, the 35-year-old primary school teacher was attacked by a shark. Now, she’s sharing a heartening update on her recovery process.
“I have some very exciting news,” she said in an Instagram post. “My leg has finally healed. It has been a journey.”
The injury stemmed from an incident at Coogee Beach, near Sydney. Stewart was taking a morning swim when she was bitten by a suspected 12-foot-long white shark. She received bites to her arms and legs, lacerations and fractures throughout her body, and extreme blood loss. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, she was placed in an induced coma and underwent an arm amputation.
Since then, it’s been a long and difficult road to recovery — which Stewart has periodically recounted to her followers on social media. Though doctors were able to close the massive wound to her leg up 70 percent, the final 30 percent remained open for months. Afterwards, she underwent multiple skin grafts that failed and left her unsure of how to go forward.
However, in the end, her own body was able to grow skin over the wound, which she proudly showed off in the video post. Though it is far from the end of her recovery journey, it is welcome good news.
“After months of a VAC machine, daily dressing changes, 13 surgeries and the best care from medical teams I’m finally here,” she wrote in the caption. “Even though my leg will never have perfect function and I’ll need years of physiotherapy, I’m just so grateful to have a leg and still be walking. Thank you to my amazing doctors, nurses, and physios who got me here. Not many people can say they took on a Great white, so I’ve decided to wear my scars with pride.”
