London Attack Victim Who Lost Legs Thanks Rescuers

A woman who lost her legs in the July 7 suicide bomb attacks on Central London is to walk down the aisle on prosthetic limbs when she gets married tomorrow.

Gill Hicks was the last person to be brought out alive from the Piccadilly Line train travelling between King's Cross and Russell Square, where 26 people died.

She survived despite losing 75 per cent of her blood and her heart stopping twice on the way to the hospital.

Ms Hicks, 37, a major events planner at the Design Council, had been preparing for her wedding to Joe Kerr, 47, an architectural historian, before she was injured in the attack.

They will marry at St Etheldreda's Catholic Church in Holborn, Central London, in front of some of the medical staff and rescue workers who helped to save her life.

Her brother, Graham, will accompany her down the aisle.

In an interview with the BBC last month, Ms Hicks, who is from Australia but has lived in Britain for 12 years, said that she was grateful to be alive.

"Life is precious and I feel like I've definitely been given life No 2," she said.

She praised the emergency workers who rescued her from the wreckage, including the policemen who carried her up 145 steps at Russell Square station and a nurse who massaged her heart in the ticket hall despite fears of another bomb.

"They have rescued someone who will take life with both hands and say thank you very much, and the best way I can thank them is to lead a very fulfilled life," she said.

Ms Hicks recalled the scene in the carriage after the bomb had exploded and recounted her struggle to stay alive.

"Although there were people screaming, there was an emergency light and it was from that emergency light that I was able to see what had happened and the extent of my injuries.

"I felt very removed from myself, but very aware that I was in quite serious trouble, because my legs did look like a picture of an anatomy drawing of what the inside of your leg looks like."

She said that she felt strangely calm as she took off her scarf, tore it in two and tied the pieces as tourniquets around both legs to stem the loss of blood.

She was determined to stay alive, she said, despite a nagging voice in her head telling her to go to sleep.

"I looked around the carriage and I made a very firm decision that 'this is not where I die. This is not the end for me'."

After she was rescued from the train, Ms Hicks was taken to St Thomas' Hospital, where she had to be resuscitated for more than ten minutes. Her legs were amputated below the knee and doctors also told Mr Kerr that she might have suffered brain damage. She spent two and a half months in hospital, where she learnt to walk on prosthetic legs.

Among the emergency workers present at the wedding will be PC Steve Bryan and PC Aaron Debnam, British Transport Police officers who helped to carry her to the surface and tried to keep her conscious. They had initially been told she was dead, but the three were reunited for a BBC documentary.

A spokeswoman for British Transport Police said: "On behalf of the force, we wish Gill and her new husband all the best. She's an amazing lady."

Ms Hicks and Mr Kerr will travel to Australia for their honeymoon. They plan to live in a property in North London which is being converted to meet Ms Hicks's needs.

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