Family speak out after horror shark attack leaves mother with life-threatening injuries and amputated arm

The family of a Sydney primary school teacher who lost her arm in a shark attack at one of Australia's most popular beaches have spoken out about the catastrophic scale of her injuries, as she remains on life support in intensive care.

Leah Stewart, 35, was mauled by a suspected 3.5-metre great white shark on the morning of June 13 while swimming between the safety flags at Coogee Beach, in clear conditions, close to shore, in one of the busiest stretches of water in New South Wales.

Her brother Joshua told the Guardian: "She's so full of life, she's so energetic, she loves the ocean. She was swimming in the flags, really close to the shore when it happened on a crystal-clear Saturday morning. She'd done all the right things."

Leah, a dedicated ocean swimmer and mother to an 18-month-old-daughter, sustained multiple severe bites across her legs and arms, fractures throughout her body, and suffered extreme blood loss.

She has since undergone an arm amputation and multiple further surgeries, with more scheduled in the coming days.

Her family say they are bracing for further life-altering news regarding injuries to her legs.

"At the moment, we're not a hundred per cent sure," Joshua said. "We're still waiting on further news from the hospital. There are multiple, quite serious injuries. This has been negatively life-changing for Leah. It is just such a tragic and horrific circumstance."

The family launched a GoFundMe to help cover the predicted costs of Leah's long-term specialist care, prosthetics, and rehabilitation as she faces what her brother described as a lengthy road to recovery.

"Leah faces a long road to recovery and your support will make a huge difference in her quality of life, rehabilitation and ability to go back to being a mum to her much loved daughter," Joshua wrote on the page.

Their mother, a registered nurse, has been keeping a bedside vigil at St Vincent's Hospital, while the rest of the family work to maintain some sense of normality for Leah's toddler, who has been asking where her mum is.

Who is lifeguard Charlie Verco?

The rescue itself was an act of extraordinary courage. Off-duty volunteer lifeguard Charlie Verco, 24, was already in the water when the attack happened.

He spotted the shark and paddled directly toward it.

"I could see the dorsal fin and the tail fin and the body of it and I felt like I was looking up at the shark, just because it was so big," he told the ABC. "I thought it would be able to bite myself and my board in half without much effort."

The shark dragged Leah underwater before releasing her. When she resurfaced, Verco pulled her onto his board and brought her to shore.

"She was lucid enough to say 'help' and respond to instruction, but she was very much in shock and definitely freaked out," he said.

Emergency services arrived at around 11am and airlifted Leah to St Vincent's Hospital.

The Coogee Surf Life Saving Club's president, Ben Heenan, paid tribute to first responders who acted with "speed, precision, and a fair bit of courageousness."

In the wake of the attack, former prime minister Tony Abbott called for a shark cull on social media, a position quickly shut down by NSW premier Chris Minns, who noted great whites are a protected species and said he was not convinced a cull would work.

Marine scientist Emeritus Professor Rob Harcourt was more pointed, saying Abbott "does not understand risk" or the science involved.

The state government has authorised continuous AI drone surveillance over Coogee Beach for the remainder of the week to monitor shark movement in the area.