My shark attack survival story

For those living in a coastal town, the sight of a pretty, young surfer girl splashing around in the ocean’s shallows is nothing out of the ordinary.

But when the girl is Lisa Mondy, the 24-year-old who almost died three times after her face and arm were ripped apart by a great white shark just 12 weeks ago, those tentative first steps back into the ocean were nothing short of heroic.
Pulling on her wetsuit for the first time since the horrific attack just off Jimmy’s Beach at Port Stephens on the NSW north coast, it’s clear Lisa has not let the near four-metre predator that almost took her life affect her love of the ocean.

‘The water is a place that I love and I’ve spent so much time in it, on it and under it – it’s my work and my play so nothing is going to keep me out,’ she tells New Idea exclusively. ‘Getting back in gave me butterflies in my heart – not from fear but from excitement. As surprising as it is, I don’t view the ocean with any fear. It’s a place where I’ve spent so much time, a place I love and it’s where I feel comfortable. If [the shark] wanted to eat me, it would have but it didn’t.’

Lisa’s positive attitude is all the more incredible given only three months ago she underwent a lifesaving 16-hour operation during which doctors came frighteningly close to amputating her arm.

On that fateful day, she and her workmates Rowan Cutbush and Mark Green – from Port Stephens Parasailing – decided to go wakeboarding between clients. It was a beautiful day and the water in the bay was crystal clear. ‘I’d done a jump over the wake and came off,’ says Lisa. ‘The board came off my foot and I started swimming back to it.

‘I’d only taken one or two strokes when the shark came straight up from underneath. I remember a shape when it was right there in my face. ‘I must have been knocked out for a minute because the next thing I remember is feeling like I’d been hit by a train.’

Lisa’s horrified friends witnessed the attack, with Mark later telling her he’d seen the creature throw her half a metre into the air. ‘I actually thought the boys were mucking with me at first somehow,’ she says.

‘Then I looked down and saw all the blood and that’s when I realised what had happened.
I couldn’t see through the water because of all the blood.’

Terrified, Lisa started making her way back to the boat assisted by Rowan, who had dived in to help her. Mark, meanwhile, used the boat to keep the circling shark away. ‘I didn’t want to think what was underneath me,’ she says.

After being hauled to safety, Mark began to administer first aid to Lisa’s shocking wounds, particularly her arm, which was almost torn off.

‘Mark was unbelievable,’ she says. ‘His knowledge really kept me alive.

If he hadn’t have done what he did, I would have died of blood loss. He had to put his hand into my wound and plug the artery.’ As their boat pulled into the wharf, a group of locals and friends were already waiting to help Lisa into an ambulance.

‘That’s when I came back into awareness and the fear and the gravity of the situation kicked in,’ she says. ‘I let out three really big screams because I was in so much pain. It was incredible.’ After being transported to a nearby oval Lisa was airlifted to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital. She was rushed straight into surgery where a team of doctors operated on her for 16 hours – six on her severely lacerated face and 10 hours on her arm. She later heard an anaesthetist say he didn’t think she would make it through the gruelling operation.

‘They really didn’t think they were going to save my arm,’ says Lisa. ‘They said if I was any older or any less fit, they would have amputated immediately but they thought they’d give it a go given my age and fitness level.’

Lisa – who didn’t even realise she had severe facial injuries until the day after the operation – remained in hospital for two weeks.

Despite her incredible recovery, she has very limited movement in her arm and doctors estimate it will take about two years for the nerves to grow back. They are still unsure whether all of her function will return to her hand.

‘I am doing as many stretches as I am allowed and thinking really positively and trying to visualise it healing,’ says Lisa, who has had to move back in with her parents.
‘I don’t think I will be able to play the guitar again, which is the thing that gets me a bit emotional because that was my favourite pastime. I also had a little business going where I was singing and playing at restaurants...

‘But where one door closes, another opens. I want to follow the path that has been put out for me.’
While she can’t work for some time or make music, Lisa refuses to dwell on the negative impact the attack has had on her life.
Instead, she has forged a relationship with the Australian Marine Conservation Society
to work towards protecting sharks, including the same species that attacked her. ‘I feel privileged in a way to come so close and come out so well,’ she says.

She also says she has her ordeal to thank for bringing her and long-time love Shane Griffiths back together after a brief split.

Always finding the silver lining, Lisa says the attack brought her and partner Shane back together and closer than ever.

The pair are currently planning a trip around Australia in October and look forward to exploring a host of new beaches.

‘It’s a bit of a fairytale,’ she says, her blue eyes twinkling. ‘We were just starting to explore coming back together when it happened. Shane came and spent a lot of time with me in the hospital and we ended up back together. I can thank this for bringing us back together.

‘Sometimes it all feels a bit surreal and I’ll sit there and think: “Wow, I was bitten by a shark.” It was a bit of a process coming to terms with it but I’ve only had a couple of moments where I’ve been emotional. Most of the time I have been so positive because I am so thankful to be alive.’

Words: Amy Mills
Photos: Katie Nolan