‘it takes time but my kids have recovered from their trauma’
On Bastille Day last July, Julie Holland, 53, was in Nice with her daughters, then aged 10 and 15, when a terrorist deliberately drove a truck into crowds, killing 86 people and injuring 434 more. She explains how her girls coped with the trauma
Hearing about the Manchester bombing brought back vivid and terrible memories of the Nice attack, which we were caught up in last year. I know how many of the witnesses will feel – terrified, traumatised and, above all, scared for their children. And I know how much the young people
who saw such devastation
will be suffering as my two girls, Sydney, 16, and Izzy, 11, struggled to cope afterwards.
“Bastille Day was our second day in Nice. We’d watched the fireworks and were settling down for dinner in a restaurant when Sydney went to the loo. Then all hell broke loose. People rushed in from the street, screaming and shouting, and tables and food went flying everywhere.
DESPERATE PANIC
“I had no idea what they were saying but I panicked. My first thought was finding Sydney, so I grabbed Izzy and ran to look for her. Sydney was waiting outside the bathroom, so I grabbed her too and we ran into the kitchen.
“It was then that we heard the gunshots. In our panic, we crouched to hide behind an oven; I then lay on top of my girls, who were shaking and crying, to protect them.
“They kept asking me if they were going to die. I told them to keep quiet and tried to reassure them, but I was racing through the options if a gunman came storming in. We lay there for five minutes before the noise stopped. I now know it was the police shooting the terrorist but at the time I thought it was like the Paris attack – that terrorists were on a rampage randomly shooting.
“Confused and terrified, we found refuge in the foyer of a nearby hotel, where I watched the news on the hotel TV and realised the extent of the carnage. The girls were crying and we all snuggled together. We don’t speak French, so it was hard to understand what had happened, but there was no disguising the numbers flashing up on the screen. There was little I could do to shield my children, as it was unfolding in front of us.
“Two hours later the police came and the brutal reality became even more apparent. They escorted us to our hotel, but we had to pick our way through bodies covered by sheets. The ground was stained red with blood. The most haunting thing was seeing leftover belongings strewn across the path – handbags, shoes and teddy bears.
“The girls clung to me sobbing. I told them not to look, but there was no way they could avoid seeing it. No child should witness that.
EXTREME SHOCK
“When we got back to the hotel, all they wanted to do was sleep – I think it’s the body’s way of protecting you when you’re in extreme shock.
“I called my family to tell them we were safe, then immediately booked a flight home to Florida the next morning – we needed our friends and family.
“It wasn’t until we sat on the plane that we spoke about what we’d seen. My older daughter understood about terrorism,
❛ despite seeing the worst things possible, children can be happy again❜
but I had to explain to Izzy why they’d done it.
“When we got home, the girls were obviously upset but got so much attention from friends and family that at first it was hard to see how it had affected them.
STRUGGLING
“Sydney talked to her friends about what she’d been through but Izzy struggled. A month after we got back she told me she’d been having nightmares about it. She also refused to travel out of the country again.
“So, last September, I decided she needed therapy to help her cope with her nerves.
“Over three months a therapist helped her to process what she had seen and taught her ways to cope, like distracting herself by watching a film. It takes time, but they’ve recovered.
“Now, we don’t think about it much, but the Manchester attack brought it back again. We feel so sorry for everyone involved.
“For those who survived, I’d tell them that children are resilient, and despite seeing the very worst things possible, they can cope, they can recover and they can be happy again.”