SYDNEY, June 25 (World Daily Times) — Leah Stewart has awakened from a 10-day induced coma after a shark attack at Coogee Beach in Sydney and told her mother and partner, Fernando, “I love you,” according to an update from her brother, Joshua Stewart.
Joshua Stewart said doctors reduced Leah Stewart’s sedation and removed her breathing tube, allowing her to wake briefly in the intensive care unit. He said the short period of alertness came after a week of life support and repeated surgeries.
ABC News reported, based on the family’s updates, that Stewart had been in critical condition for 12 days after the June 13 attack and had undergone multiple surgeries, including surgery to remove her arm and address other serious injuries.
Joshua Stewart later said Leah Stewart was awake, no longer in critical condition and able to communicate with family members and medical staff. ABC News reported that she was also reunited with her young daughter, August, for the first time since the attack.
