A year on from a life-altering shark attack, Burnie woman Justine Barwick has bitten back.
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Staff at Family Based Care, where Mrs Barwick is the Chief Operating Officer, celebrated the anniversary with a fundraiser involving a shark cake.
While she has returned to her full duties at work, Mrs Barwick said she continued to deal with her injuries.
"While I have been able to get back to work my injuries require me to have ongoing physiotherapy and other specialist care and I will have lifelong disabilities as a result of the shark bite," she said.
The avid snorkeler visited the Whitsundays with her husband and friends in September last year.
She was swimming in Sid Harbour on September 19 when a shark bit her leg, leaving her in a critical condition.
The $1000 raised by the Family Based Care team will go towards the RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter Service that helped her get to hospital and ultimately saved her life.
Hear Justine tell her story in Rising From The Deep:
The near-death experience has not dampened her love for the ocean.
The Burnie woman returned to the water while on a recent family cruise with the precaution of using a shark shield.
"I found the experience of being back in the sea to be an exhilarating experience for both mind and body, a weight of had been lifted and I felt I had reached a next level in my recovery."
She's often asked for comment about shark control policy in Queensland.
"At the end of the day I was a tourist who suffered a misadventure and I feel I has no place to contribute to the discussion about how Queensland should or should not deal with sharks in its territorial waters."
She said she couldn't have achieved her remarkable recovery without the support of others.
"Sometimes life decides to try and break us and we can either get broken or get better, I chose to get better.
I'll never be as good as I was but I think I am doing pretty well to make a new me."