The picturesque azure waters of the Whitsundays turned blood red when Justine Barwick was attacked. She’s now telling her story.
Justine lost a large chunk out of her thigh and had her femoral artery severed before she was pulled back onto the boat.
She took long, deep breaths to control her anxiety as help arrived in the form of a doctor from a nearby boat. She did make it, with help from the RACQ Central Queensland Rescue Helicopter Service, waiting blood and teams of experts at Mackay Hospital first and then later Royal Brisbane Hospital.“I didn’t even know if she would make it at all and I felt her chance of survival was close to 20 per cent,” she said.
Ms Barwick knows she’s one of the lucky ones, and she is doing her best to return to life as normal, including returning to the water.
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