7/7 anniversary even harder as survivors cannot meet, says lawyer who lost leg

A lawyer who survived the 7/7 bombings told today how lockdown brought back painful memories of her recovery from the terror attack 15 years ago.

Thelma Stober, 52, was caught in one of the explosions while travelling to work on the Circle line between Liverpool Street and Aldgate on July 7, 2005.

She lost half of her lower left leg and spent a year off work recovering and learning to walk again.

Before the explosion Mrs Stober, below, had been a senior lawyer on London’s bid team for the Olympics, which the city had won the day before the deadly attack by four suicide bombers that killed 52 people and left more than 700 injured.

Mrs Stober, now head of legal for the Local Government Association, said she had found the past months “more difficult” because they brought back memories of her rehabilitation.

She said: “I was at home for a whole year after 7/7. I didn’t know I would have to learn to walk again. I thought it would be like a new pair of boots. It wasn’t like that and that sent me into a depression.

"Being locked at home during the pandemic and the uncertainty of not knowing when it is going to end brings back some of the memories.

"I would ask doctors ‘will I be able to walk in three months?’ They couldn’t give me an answer.

"Equally with Covid you just don’t know when it will be over.”

Today’s 15-year anniversary will be particularly hard because the pandemic means she cannot meet fellow survivors. “7/7 brought us all together,” said Mrs Stober.

“We are like a family, there is something that binds us even though we are all from different parts of the world, different religions, different ethnicities, different ages.

"This year it is much harder that you can’t actually meet people and physically give them the support, hug each other.

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