London Terror Attack Survivor Dr Gill Hicks On Making The Most Of Her Second Chance | The Project — Transcript

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1. 0:00On the 7th of July, 2005, the world was
2. 0:02rocked by terrorist attacks in London
3. 0:05that claimed the lives of 52 people.
4. 0:08Breaking news are getting from the PA
5. 0:09news wire. Reports of an explosion
6. 0:12outside Liverpool Street Station.
7. 0:14There was bits of the train scattered
8. 0:16all over the track. Dead bodies lay by
9. 0:18the side of the tracks.
10. 0:19It's terrible.
11. 0:21Aussie expat Gill Hicks was among the
12. 0:23victims of one of the blasts. She clung
13. 0:25on for nearly an hour before paramedics
14. 0:27could drag her from the wreckage.
15. 0:30As a result of her injuries, Gill lost
16. 0:33both her legs, but gained a new
17. 0:35appreciation for life and began sharing
18. 0:37a message of love with the world.
19. 0:40I am proof that unconditional love and
20. 0:45respect can not only save,
21. 0:49but it can transform lives.
22. 0:52She's now headed to the Adelaide Fringe
23. 0:54Festival to share her story and some
24. 0:56songs while she celebrates what it means
25. 0:59to be alive.
26. 1:01Thanks for joining us, Gill. If you
27. 1:02could take us back to that day in 2005,
28. 1:05you were waiting to be rescued, severely
29. 1:08injured, close to death. How do you
30. 1:10think you managed to survive?
31. 1:12To this day, it's probably the question
32. 1:14that I I most would love answered
33. 1:17because I'm I'm a bit of a medical
34. 1:20miracle um having been, I'm told,
35. 1:23clinically dead for 30 minutes. Um so
36. 1:29I I I I don't know what kept me going.
37. 1:31For me, I think there's several things.
38. 1:33There was
39. 1:34a sense that I I had the film of my life
40. 1:39and all of the moments of, you know,
41. 1:42remembering what it felt like to have
42. 1:44sun on my face and um going to the
43. 1:47beach. I wanted more. I wanted more of
44. 1:52those moments and I wanted to live so
45. 1:54desperately.
46. 1:56How did the experience change you?
47. 1:59It In In every way and yet, you know,
48. 2:03contradictory,
49. 2:04in in no way at all. You know, so what
50. 2:06one thing that I've really celebrated is
51. 2:09that I I am still me. I still got the
52. 2:12same ridiculous sense of humor. Um I
53. 2:14still wear black, which I did before. Um
54. 2:18for me, it's the loneliness of the
55. 2:21experience.
56. 2:22Um
57. 2:23when you go through something like that
58. 2:26and and come through and and I'm still
59. 2:28filled with that euphoria and
60. 2:32gratefulness, you know, for every day
61. 2:35that I have because you know, you you
62. 2:37don't want to be the person at the party
63. 2:39sort of walking in and say, "Isn't it
64. 2:41fantastic that we're all here?" You
65. 2:43know,
66. 2:44and people are like, "Uh yeah, you're a
67. 2:46bit excited."
68. 2:47Um Jill, can I just ask you, since that
69. 2:50dreadful day, have you managed to make
70. 2:52peace with the people who did this to
71. 2:53you?
72. 2:54Um
73. 2:55really great question. Thank you for
74. 2:57that because um
75. 3:00yes and no. I've worked in the field of
76. 3:03countering
77. 3:05um destructive ideologies for the last
78. 3:0712 years.
79. 3:09For me, the person that did this is
80. 3:11dead.
81. 3:12So that's really changed this idea that
82. 3:15I could sit with him and talk to him.
83. 3:19But on a on a kind of greater scale, I
84. 3:22think it's it's given me the the hunger
85. 3:26for the quest to to really find out, you
86. 3:29know, why
87. 3:31and what do we do about it? You know,
88. 3:32how do we stop these things at the root
89. 3:36before they actually go to a place
90. 3:38where, you know, you end up like me. I
91. 3:39don't want anyone to ever know what I
92. 3:42know.
93. 3:43And Jill, obviously you thought how do I
94. 3:45best tell this story? Through cabaret.
95. 3:49Of course. I I is there any other way?
96. 3:51Do you know what? I've I try everything.
97. 3:53And the thing that I I I came to a
98. 3:55conclusion during this wonderful kind of
99. 3:58thoughtful period of COVID. And that was
100. 4:01to define, you know, what is it do I
101. 4:03actually do?
102. 4:05And I thought
103. 4:06perhaps I
104. 4:08um I find the the way to best
105. 4:11communicate the the why
106. 4:15um to understand the how. Maybe that's
107. 4:17what I do. And so it's everything is
108. 4:20from painting to music to speaking. And
109. 4:24so I just thought, "Hey, what if I put
110. 4:27all of that together
111. 4:29in a fringe show?" So
112. 4:31Yeah, life doesn't get more crazy than
113. 4:33than fringe, huh?
114. 4:35Well, you can see Jo's extraordinary
115. 4:36show is still alive at the Adelaide
116. 4:38Fringe Festival. Details are on our
117. 4:40website and you can head there for that.
118. 4:41Thanks for your time.
119. 4:42Thank you.
120. 4:44Talk about inspirational optimism right
121. 4:46there. Stick around, plenty more still
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