How Leeds hospital stay sparked passion for sharks, underwater photography and ocean conservation

"I just got really invested in this programme and it sounds daft but it was the one thing that kept me going.”

That was back in the mid 1990s, when Maria, originally from London, was undergoing treatment at Leeds St James’s Hospital.

She spent three months there, and a total of six months in hospital, after being involved in a road accident with a lorry whilst riding a moped. The incident happened on her first day of work as a holiday rep on the Greek island of Rhodes.

Then aged 23, she suffered 15 fractures to her body including her back and underwent treatment both abroad and in London before being helped by medics in Leeds, where she had lived for a time in the early nineties.

Maria says she developed an infection during her time in hospital and was on an end-of-life pathway. But she defied the odds, overcoming the infection and learning to walk again after her injuries.

Watching the shark programme she had said to herself, “if I manage to get out of this hospital, if I manage to defy the doctors and learn to walk again, if I manage to overcome all of this somehow, I’m going to go out and I’m going to learn about these sharks in the wild".

"It took my mind off what was happening,” she says, “and I was really keen to swim with these fish if I could survive and walk again.”

After a series of follow up outpatient appointments and surgeries, Maria was officially discharged from the care of St James’s after four years in 1998.

In that same year, she began volunteering with The Shark Trust, a Plymouth-based organisation which is focused on shark conservation and protecting populations on a global scale.

“I started volunteering for them, giving talks to sea life centres and talking to children and organisations about their work, to teach people about sharks, and that we don’t need to be scared of them.

“I was starting to get really involved and passionate about it even though I hadn’t actually seen any sharks yet in real life.”

Maria booked to go swimming with sharks of the coast of Africa, one of a number of experiences driven by her desire to learn as much as she could about the ocean.

She would take photographs of the life she encountered in the water, using the images to accompany her talks back in the UK.

“I hoped they’d make my stories more interesting to both children and adults and hopefully inspire them that they can do something to protect the [ocean]."

Maria continued to follow her curiosity for sharks and became a dive industry professional and an award-winning underwater photographer. She teaches the craft as well as being a snorkel instructor with Scuba Schools International.

Deeply passionate about conservation, Maria hopes to help people better understand the marine environment through her photography.

As well as being involved in launching shark conservation campaigns with The Shark Trust around the turn of the millennium, she has raised money for shark conservation projects and has participated in research trips to learn more about marine life.

These days, Maria also works within the NHS, covering staffing shortages in Dorset, where she lives, and beyond, as a healthcare support worker auxiliary nurse.

She hopes soon to return to Yorkshire and work a number of shifts at St James’s as a thank you for the hospital’s care.

“I can’t believe I’ve done all this from my little humble beginnings [watching sharks on TV] in that side room at St James’s,” Maria reflects.

"I’ve somehow managed to achieve a lot not just for myself, which I still can’t believe, but also I’ve helped people across the world to achieve incredible images and have successful careers.”