Initiatives of Change - Greencoat Forums Reports

One Unknown by Gill Hicks

There was hardly a dry eye in the audience as she recalled her horrific experience. Standing just feet from the suicide bomber in the first carriage of the Piccadilly Line tube train, she was suddenly plunged into darkness as he detonated his bomb. The wait for rescue was, she said, the most powerful hour she has ever spent, wrestling with the very real prospect of her own death.

She was presented with a unique clarity - life and what is most important was condensed to a simple proposition, she said. In what could be understood as an out of body experience, she described what she calls the voice of death, a beautiful voice urging her to close her eyes and go with it - then the voice of life, agitated and angry with Gill for even listening to the voice of death, put forward the case for survival.

She described the unimaginable scene: sitting in darkness, perched on what was a seat, and barely able to breathe, she found the strength to take her scarf from her neck and use it as a tourniquet around her severely damaged legs. Remarkably she felt no pain, even though both her lower legs were only attached to her body by a thread.

Labelled as 'One Unknown' on admittance to hospital, the medical team never gave up the hope that she would survive. Both her legs had to be amputated below the knee. After immediate surgery, she lay in a state of unconsciousness, doctors unsure if she would ever wake up, or indeed survive the night.

Finding her identity was a growing concern for the medical team, believing that every minute was now crucial as she may die at any stage. A senior detective at the scene later described to Gill how he devised a plan which could answer the mystery of her identity. He went through the alphabet trying to communicate with the semi-conscious Gill—urging her to blink at the correct letter to spell out her name. The plan worked and One Unknown was now Gill Hicks.

Originally from Adelaide, Australia, she came to the UK 14 years ago to pursue a career in the arts. At the time of the London Bombings she had been working as Head of Curation at the Design Council in London.

She told, with Aussie forthrightness, how she had had a spat with her fiancé, Joe Kerr, on the morning of the bombing. Feeling angry and running late, and due to Northern Line delays, she decided to switch from her normal tube train route, thus finding herself in harm's way.

Hicks was full of praise and immense gratitude for both the courage and quick actions of the London Ambulance Service and the British Transport Police. Some of those who saved her life have become close friends, 'like brothers and sisters'. 'One Unknown' was an individual whose life was important to them. ‘What I received that day was unconditional love,’ she said. 'This sense of being surrounded by so much love is what I attribute to not experiencing feelings of hatred or bitterness for what has happened to me. Life now is so precious to me that I do recognize how very fortunate I am to have survived such an ordeal, and I feel optimistic and positive about the future.’

Till 7/7 she had regarded issues of war and peace as other people’s concern ‘and nothing to do with me’. Now, however, Hicks, whose story is told in her book One Unknown, is an Ambassador for Peace Direct, a UK-based charity supporting local peace builders in conflict zones around the world. Five months after the attack, she and Joe were married in London.

Michael Smith