Shark Attack Survivor Faces Setback as Skin Graft Fails

Leah Stewart, an Australian mother who lost an arm in a shark attack at Coogee Beach, has shared a difficult update on her recovery, stating that a recent skin graft has failed.

Stewart, who was attacked on June 13, revealed the setback in an Instagram post. "Unfortunately this is not the post I was wanting to do but I had my graft checked yesterday and it was confirmed that it failed," she said. "So, I am feeling pretty devastated had quite a few tears and now we’re not really sure where to go from here."

Three and a half months after the incident, Stewart's leg remains open. She noted that she is taking a break from the Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) machine, a medical device used to secure skin grafts and aid healing, which allows her to move more freely.

Stewart shared visuals of her leg for the first time, showing the site where skin was taken from her right thigh, which she described as "still pretty raw but thankfully it’s healing." She explained that the graft applied to her left leg did not succeed.

This marks Stewart's second attempt at a skin graft. Earlier in September, she recounted the harrowing details of her survival to Australia's '60 Minutes,' describing how she fought a shark that severed her arm.

"In my head, I was like, ‘You ugly f–ker, you are not taking me away from my daughter,’" Stewart told the program. "I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again … I think I must have got a really good one in. And so it let me go."

Following the interview, Stewart faced criticism and accusations of fabricating parts of her story, which she vehemently denied. Shark expert Joel Nancarrow publicly defended Stewart, condemning the online commentary as "beyond comprehension" and "the problem."

Stewart was critically injured when a shark attacked her while she was swimming close to shore at Coogee Beach. She was brought to shore by a paddleboarder and received immediate assistance from a trauma doctor, lifeguards, and police. Her left arm was amputated below the elbow after she spent 10 days in an induced coma and underwent multiple surgeries.