Gill Hicks boarded a train, next to her was a passenger carrying a bomb | ABC Conversations Podcast

Gill Hicks was living in London in 2005. One morning she boarded a train on the Picadilly Line, and in the crowded carriage she was standing next to Jermaine Lindsay who was carrying a bomb.

When the bomb was detonated, she felt as though she was being enveloped in inky blackness. When the emergency lights came on she saw her legs and feet were shattered.

Gill heard two insistent voices in her head: one was female, inviting her to surrender into the peace of death. The other voice was male, and it was demanding that she choose to live.

As Gill waited for help to come, she made a contract with herself to survive. But she says, she wasn't fully aware of the 'fine print'.

Gill became close friends with the many police officers and medical staff who saved her life. She says the love she received from complete strangers is much more important to her than the hateful attack on herself and her fellow passengers.

Gill founded a charity called MAD for Peace, which invites people all over the world to look for peace in their own lives.

This episode of Conversations contains discussion about terrorism, bombs, bombings, Jihad, terrorists, London, underground, the Tube, relationships, disasters, religion, London Bombings, rescue operations, rescuers, ambulance, first responders, Jermaine Linday, Mad for Peace, Picadilly Line, Adelaide, expats, mad nests, charities, walking, prosthetics, prosthetic legs, disability, fundraising.