A STRANGER’S BRAVERY SAVED MY LIFE
ON 14 JULY, IN NICE, FRANCE, Mohamed Lahouaiej-bouhlel deliberately drove a cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais. The attack killed 86 and injured 434 before the driver was shot dead. Adelaide Stratton, 23, who works in production in Sydney, Australia, was struck by the 19-tonne lorry but miraculously survived. Here she tells
Grazia about the stranger who helped save her life. ‘I slowly lifted my hand away from my head and realised it was pouring with blood. I couldn’t focus but a blur of flashing white and blue lights flitted into the periphery of my vision. What I didn’t know was that I was surrounded by dead bodies and was the only person on that stretch of road to survive. A French man with long hair was leaning over me, clutching my hand, saying it was going to be OK. What was? Had I fallen in the road?
‘A few minutes earlier, my friend Marcus and I had been
This cowardly attack reminds us of the evil in the world, but one man’s kindness gives me hope
walking along the promenade after watching the most fantastic Bastille Day firework display. We were on a three-month adventure around Europe and had been told the seafront celebrations were not to be missed. The atmosphere had been so joyous – as the catastrophic news of what happened sank in over the following weeks, I struggled to comprehend what had happened. Apparently, I’d stepped out in front of the truck, not hearing the screams of terror from further up the road, and my leg had been caught in the wheel.
‘I was propelled forward, smashing my head on the ground, causing bleeding on my brain, a shattered skull and a leg so mangled it’s still almost unrecognisable. Police had thought there was a bomb on the truck and were warning medics to stay back. And yet a French man, Patrick Sergent, risked his life to stay by my side, keep me conscious and see me safely to a hospital bed. His courage and care undoubtedly helped save my life.
‘I was a vegetable in a hospital bed in France for two weeks before I was transferred to an Australian hospital. I couldn’t walk for nearly two months and my facial scars are still healing. But I’m going to start work again in January and I’m making myself look forward to 2017. This cowardly attack reminds us all of the evil in the world, but in Patrick it also showed me so much kindness, too. That gives me hope.’