When Leah Stewart came face-to-face with a shark off an Australian beach, she says the fear was almost impossible to describe.

She remembers the animal’s face.

She remembers the force of the attack.

And she remembers one thought suddenly pushing everything else aside.

Her 18-month-old daughter, August.

As the shark held onto her leg, Stewart says she realized that if she did not survive, her little girl could grow up without a mother.

That thought changed the way she responded.

Instead of surrendering to the terror of the moment, Stewart says she focused on one thing: fighting to stay alive.

Two months after the June 13 attack at Coogee Beach in Sydney left her with life-threatening injuries and ultimately resulted in the loss of an arm, the 34-year-old teacher and mother is now describing what went through her mind during the ordeal.

“It was holding on to my leg, and then I just thought of August,” Stewart said emotionally in a preview of an interview with Nine Network’s 60 Minutes.

She could not accept the thought of her daughter growing up without her.

So she fought.

She Was Swimming Close to Shore When Everything Changed

Stewart had been taking a morning swim at Coogee Beach on June 13 when she was attacked.

The beach is one of Sydney’s recognizable coastal destinations, and Stewart was reportedly swimming relatively close to shore when the encounter occurred.

What followed transformed an ordinary morning into a medical emergency.

St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney later said Stewart had suffered “severe and life-threatening injuries.”

She underwent multiple surgeries after being rushed for treatment.

Among those procedures was the amputation of one of her arms.

The seriousness of her injuries also required doctors to place her in a medically induced coma as her body began the difficult process of recovering.

In her recent interview, Stewart recalled seeing the shark directly.

The image has remained with her.

“I will never forget its face,” she said, describing the animal as a “monster.”

But amid that fear, her daughter became the thing she held onto mentally.

“She’s Going to Grow Up Without a Mum”

Stewart’s description of the attack centers less on the shark itself than on the moment she realized what she might lose.

She thought of August.

The toddler was only 18 months old.

Stewart began imagining a future in which her daughter would no longer have her mother.

“She’s going to grow up without a mum,” Stewart remembered thinking.

That possibility was unbearable to her.

“I couldn’t handle that,” she said through tears. “I didn’t want her not to have a mum.”

That became her motivation.

Her instinct was no longer simply to escape pain or fear.

She wanted to get home to her child.

For Stewart, the thought appears to have reduced the chaos around her to a single goal: survive this moment.

Her Recovery Required Multiple Surgeries and a Coma

Surviving the initial attack was only the beginning.

Stewart’s injuries required extensive medical treatment.

She was placed in a medically induced coma during her recovery and later underwent multiple operations.

Her arm had to be amputated.

The physical consequences were enormous, but Stewart eventually began showing signs of progress.

After coming out of the coma, she was able to communicate with her family and begin confronting the reality of what had happened.

The recovery that followed was not simply about healing wounds.

She had to begin adjusting to a permanently changed body and relearning how to perform parts of everyday life independently.

Two months later, Stewart says she can finally see signs that the hardest period may be beginning to lift.

She Says She Is Beginning to Regain Independence

On Aug. 23, Stewart shared an update through a GoFundMe that had been created to support her and her family.

Her message was filled with gratitude.

She said she had been overwhelmed by the number of people — including complete strangers — who had supported them following the attack.

After what she described as “an incredibly difficult few months,” Stewart said she had finally progressed enough to begin rebuilding some independence.

For someone who had been critically injured and placed into a medically induced coma only weeks earlier, those small steps represented something significant.

She could finally see “some light” ahead.

Her family is now focused on healing and finding their way back toward what Stewart described as a normal life.

That normal may look different than it did before June 13.

But Stewart says the progress has been remarkable.

An “Army” of Support Surrounded Her Family

The response from the community became another major part of Stewart’s recovery.

Friends, relatives and strangers contributed financially and sent messages of encouragement, prayers and support.

Stewart said she was continually surprised by how deeply people cared about what her family was experiencing.

The GoFundMe eventually reached a point where Stewart said donations would be turned off.

Her message was essentially that supporters had already done more than enough.

She described the people surrounding her family as an “army” of love and encouragement and said she genuinely believes that support played a role in helping her recover.

There is still significant rehabilitation ahead.

Stewart herself acknowledges that she has “a long way to go.”

But she is no longer speaking only from a hospital crisis.

She is beginning to speak about rebuilding.

The Attack Changed More Than Her Body

Stories about shark attacks often become focused on the animal, the location and the dramatic details of the encounter.

Stewart’s account has a different emotional center.

For her, the defining moment was not simply seeing the shark.

It was realizing what her death would mean to someone else.

Her daughter was too young to understand what was happening to her mother that morning.

Yet in Stewart’s mind, August became the most powerful presence in the water.

The thought of leaving her behind gave Stewart something concrete to fight for.

That detail also helps explain why her recent comments are so emotional.

She survived a catastrophic physical event.

But in the moment itself, she says she was not thinking about the life she might lose for herself.

She was thinking about the childhood her daughter might have without her.

Two Months Later, She Is Looking Forward

Stewart’s recovery remains ongoing.

She is learning to live with the effects of her injuries while trying to return to life with her family.

The physical challenges are substantial.

So are the emotional ones.

But her latest update carries far more hope than the reports that emerged immediately after the attack.

She survived.

She woke from the coma.

She has undergone the surgeries she needed.

She is rebuilding independence.

And she is back with the daughter who occupied her thoughts during the most frightening moment of her life.

Stewart says she does not forget what happened.

The shark’s face remains vivid in her memory.

But another image appears to have been stronger.

August.

When Stewart believed she might not make it out of the water, she imagined her little girl growing up without a mother.

She decided she could not let that happen.

And in the middle of an attack that nearly took her life, that thought gave her one reason powerful enough to keep fighting.