I survived the 7/7 bombings - here's what I'd tell the senseless terrorist who ravaged my life if he was alive today

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

A 7/7 bombings survivor has revealed what she would tell the terrorist who left her fighting for her life if he was still alive today while appearing on Thursday's instalment of Lorraine.
Thelma Stober - who will star in the new upcoming documentary 7/7: Homegrown Terror - appeared on the ITV show to bravely talk to host Lorraine Kelly, 65, about what happened on that day 20 years ago.
The aftermath of the day left Thelma learn to walk again after losing her leg in the explosion, a further amputation and internal injuries impacting her brain.
Despite what she has suffered, Lorraine pointed out that she has gone on to help so many other people by sharing her story and campaigning.
Thelma, who was standing next to the bomber and remembers waking up on the train tracks at Aldgate, said: 'I want to show the terrorists, those who are thinking of attacking our country, that we will stand shoulder to shoulder, with everyone, community, government.
'We will fight, we will never be defeated.
'For the lives of the 52 people, who in a reckless, senseless attack, lost their lives, I will never give up, we will never forgive up.
'I will continue to speak up. It is important that as in society, we remember, we live with the challenges, support.
'I don't know any survivor or family of the bereavement, who are sitting at home feeling sorry for ourselves. We are not.
'It is very important that we receive the support we need, not just in the immediate and in the medium and long term to help us to continue and contribute to society.'
Thelma recalled the events of the day and explained that in a turn of events she ended up going into work, which meant that she got on the tube that was involved in the blast.
She explained: 'I spent three years of my life to contributing to preparing the beat to stage the London Paralympic and Olympic Games here.
'Only Ken Livingstone thought that we were going to win, so I promised to spend some time with my son and take him to nursery and of course we won, my work ethic got the better of me.
'I was going into the office and I never got there...'
Despite what has happened to her, Thelma has a positive outlook on life and said: 'Just to say, I speak for myself and speak for all of those who were affected.
'52 lost their lives. Yes I live with the consequences every day.
'The way I cope, they are challenges I have to navigate, as long as I can get the support I need, I am fortunate to be alive to sit with you to tell the stories.'
She continued: 'I have had surgeries, subsequently I had a further amputation in 2013 because the tibia was growing and made it impossible to wear my limb.
'I had had subsequent internal injuries which flared up in 2019, after years of migraines, I have shrapnel on my brain.
'My brain is slightly submerged, there is a very slow leak. I had to have high definition scan every year to be monitored.
'That in itself has a risk.'
It comes after a man who lost both of his legs in the 7/7 bombings recounted the moment he locked eyes with the terrorist and the three things his rescuer said.
Wednesday's instalment of This Morning saw co-hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard sit down with Dan Biddle and Adrian Heili who both survived the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London.
Dan was 26 years old at the time and was on his way to work on July 7, 2005 when three terrorists detonated bombs on the London Underground killing 42 people, including the suicide bombers.
A fourth bomb also exploded on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square, central London, killing another 14 including the terrorist.
A four-part series on the events, titled 7/7: The London Bombings, launched on Netflix on July 1.
Dan, who worked in construction at the time, was on the circle line and missed his stop, meaning he was on the carriage with one of the terrorists.
'My morning of the 7th July, I call it the sliding doors moment because there's lots of incidents that morning where if I do something different, I'm not on that train and it all culminated with the final mess up was I missed my stop, so I shouldn't of even been on the train,' he recalled to Cat and Ben.
Dan was sat near the terrorist in the carriage and recalled locking eyes with him moments before the horrific attack.
'It was really strange because I was stood up and he was sat next to me... as the train pulled out of Edgware Road station I could feel somebody staring at me,' Dan said.
However, he admitted he 'didn't really think anything of it' at first.
'Out of the corner of my eye I saw him lean forward and look along the carriage to the back end of the carriage we was in and then he started to stare at me again,' Dan explained.
Dan witnessed the moment the terrorist detonated the bomb and described how 'absolute hell was unleashed'.
He said: 'By this point it was starting to get a little bit uncomfortable so I looked at him, locked eyes with him, I was just about to say 'What you're looking at mate? What's your problem?' and I just saw him reach into the bag and that's when absolute hell was unleashed.'
The moment the bomb was set off, there was a 'brilliant white flash' of light and heat unleashed into the carriage.
Dan was blown through the carriage doors and into the tunnel by the pressure of the bomb.
He didn't realise what had happened at first and assumed the carnage was caused by a train collision or an electrical explosion.
'I didn't realise how seriously injured I was in that second, it was only when I moved my arms and my arms and hands were on fire that I realised actually this is a bit more than I first realised,' Dan recalled.
'That's when I made the mistake of trying to look around and that's when I saw the first dead body and it was just absolute hell on earth after that.'
Dan lost both of his legs in the incident, and recalled how his left leg was found 15 feet behind him in the tunnel.
He also suffered a lacerated liver, burst spleen, ruptured colon, ruptured bowel, punctured kidney, two punctured lungs and lost his left eye, amongst other injuries.
Adrian had been on a different carriage and suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs.
He recalled hearing 'almighty screams' from people in the tunnel and climbed over tracks to reach Dan who he had been able to speak to.
Adrian had worked as a medic in the military previously and used his experience to help Dan and other injured people.
'When I found Danny I didn't actually see the full extent of his injuries I saw his head was cut open, he had facial injuries and his hands were charred,' he said.
It wasn't until Adrian moved the tube door off Dan that he realised how badly injured he was.
Dan credited Adrian for saving his life and said: 'He ran headlong into what people were trying to run away from.
'Basically Adrian, when he found me, he said three things to me which I'm never going to forget.
'The first thing he said to me was... I've been in this situation before and never lost anyone, which was a little bit unsettling at first I've got to admit.
'He then asked me if I had anything he didn't want to be catching because obviously massive open wounds and then he said to me, 'Brace yourself Dan this is really going to hurt'. And I thought, I've been set on fire, I've got all these injuries what can you possibly do to me that could hurt anymore?
'One thing Adrian isn't is a liar, because he basically had to push his hand into what was left of my left leg, find my femoral artery and pinch it shut to stop me from bleeding to death.'
Cat and Ben were speechless at the recount and Ben commented, 'It's extraordinary hearing you say that and you were doing it in a train tunnel, a tube tunnel, surrounded by the devastation'.
'The experience I had in the past gave me that understanding and confidence more than anything to say that I'm going to do my best for Dan,' Adrian said.
Dan described how everything he witnessed, including inside the tube and outside of the station has culminated into a lot of painful memories.
'Adrian and myself, we don't have one trauma, we have 101 different traumas and for both of us it's like having a horror movie playing in your head on repeat and you can't find a button to turn it off, so you have to live with it,' Dan explained.
Despite the horrors both men witnessed, they have formed a strong friendship with one another and Dan credited Adrian for saving his life.
'Everything I've done with my life since 8.52 on the 7th July is because of this man,' he said.
'We didn't know each other, we'd never met before that day and one of the things I always come back to when I talk about 7/7 is in a space of minutes I came face to face with the very worst of humanity and the person that did this, and the very best of it in Adrian.'