She said: \u201cI probably come over to New Zealand probably three times a year … when I was in hospital, I kept on saying to Fernando, my partner, I\u2019m like, \u2018When I can finally fly or travel, we\u2019re going to Queenstown\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her love for New Zealand was so strong her family played her the soundtrack from Lord Of The Rings to calm her while she was in a coma.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWhen I was in the coma, it felt like 10 years, like it just felt like a lifetime, and I felt like I was a bit trapped and it was scary\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand is just my happy place. And my family were just like, let\u2019s transport her to the Shire so that she\u2019ll be in a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n
A trip to the Remarkables is one thing to work towards but her main motivator has always been her baby daughter August.<\/p>\n
Stewart has been vocal about the attack, describing the moment the shark dragged her into the water as being \u201cbeyond panic\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWhen it took me, it felt impossible. And it almost felt easier for it just to kill me quickly, because I thought, there\u2019s no way I\u2019m getting out of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the thought of [August] … gave me a strength I don\u2019t think I would have had.\u201d<\/p>\n
She fought off the shark, throwing in left hooks until it let her go. This meant the loss of her lower left arm and many other injuries.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy but Stewart is focusing on the positive and her most recent highlight was being able to pick up her daughter for the first time.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThat\u2019s something I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to do … I got to pick her up and hold her on my side and that\u2019s what I\u2019m focusing on. I\u2019m not focusing on all the other things I can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the attack happened Stewart was still breastfeeding August, who was 6 months old at the time.<\/p>\n
This made being in the hospital and separated from her baby girl one of the hardest parts of the recovery.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cFor me just to disappear, for her was so hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then for me when I woke up, it was just the hardest thing to be kept away from her. I could see her … But it was still really difficult because at that point I couldn\u2019t move.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leah during her first interview after the attack. Photo \/ Nine<\/p>\n
Stewart is no longer in the hospital, but she is still recovering.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cAt the moment, my leg is still open\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was bitten by the shark, I lost my outer muscle of my leg … so I can\u2019t really move that freely. I\u2019ve been on bed rest the last two weeks, which is awful.\u201d<\/p>\n
She hasn\u2019t let that get her down because the way she views it, she is lucky to be with her family and for the people who helped save her.<\/p>\n
After fighting off the shark, she was spotted and taken to shore by Charlie Vercoe, the world\u2019s number one paddle boarder.<\/p>\n
She was then tended to by a top medical specialist for pre-medical care, Professor Ian Furgeson, who happened to be on the beach.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe fact that I had Charlie Vercoe, Ian Ferguson, there was ICU nurses, there was surgery nurses all on the beach… the fact that I can walk, speak, don\u2019t have brain damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I actually do feel lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart has done several interviews about her experience, which has helped her erode the fear attached to such a horrific memory.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI feel like I\u2019m trying to regain power over the situation and every time I speak about it, the fear of it, it gets a little bit less.\u201d<\/p>\n
At first she said she couldn\u2019t even hear the word \u201cshark\u201d, now she\u2019s chosen to live by the beach and conquer the fear.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cBy seeing that [the ocean], I feel like it\u2019s helping with the fear just by exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she has a desire to get back into the water, safety has become more of a priority.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019ve been speaking with the Premier of New South Wales, and I really am passionate in making sure that we can keep our beaches safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being a primary school teacher, she recently visited her classroom who also helped her gain more perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201d… They were just so curious and asking me questions like, how sharp are the shark\u2019s teeth? Can you show us your missing arm?<\/p>\n
\u201cI was worried about going, but then afterwards, I\u2019m like, I can face anything … And it was completely fine. And it comes from such a beautiful place of innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she wanted her story to inspire people into a deeper sense of gratitude, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s just about being grateful for what you do have and not focusing on what you don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She said: \u201cI probably come over to New Zealand probably three times a year … when I was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,89,17517,34596,651,94411,51500,9832,1364,10539,111,43,139,69,90,2680,6744,1881,10540,312,7971,119304,14484,1734,45666,61,810,1316,80],"class_list":["post-611856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-attack","tag-because","tag-calm","tag-close","tag-coma","tag-happy","tag-helped","tag-her","tag-lord","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-opens","tag-place","tag-recovery","tag-rings","tag-says","tag-shark","tag-soundtrack","tag-survivor","tag-sydney","tag-ties","tag-to","tag-up","tag-when","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}