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Family of London Terrorist Bombings Survivor Calls for Action of Love Not Revenge - "We prayed that what had been meant for evil would turn out for the glory of God, and we are sure this will happen. We believe he has been spared for a special purpose"LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) -- A victim of the London terrorist attacks has called for love, not revenge, as a response to the atrocity that left 56 dead and many, including himself, seriously wounded. Christian writer Charles Gardner was naturally shocked and devastated when he heard the news that his brother David had been badly injured in the July 7 blast at the Edgware Road tube station. However, it does seem that God was protecting him. David saw the bomb go off right next to where he was sitting and was catapulted into the air before coming to rest underneath a pile of debris and dead bodies. David was immediately comforted by a "Good Samaritan" teacher, John McDonald, who talked with Gardner about Shakespeare and rugby while waiting for help. A leading light with the Hampstead Players, David was due to appear the following week as Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which he was also directing, and was going through his lines at the time of the blast. In fact David continued doing so in the immediate aftermath until the full realization of what had happened dawned on him. David was traveling on the Circle Line on his way to Kensington High Street, where he works as a management accountant with the Evening Standard. Although severely injured, the "protection" of the unfortunate victims who were standing probably saved his life. David has since said that he has never before managed to get a seat on the carriage, but he did on this occasion. "If I had been standing, I would be dead," David told his wife Angela when he finally came round after 72 hours of being under heavy sedation. David had his left leg amputated, his ruptured spleen removed and was in the Intensive Care Unit at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. He had to undergo several further hours of surgery to correct a number of problems, which included bleeding to a kidney, superficial burns and removing foreign bodies ("bits of train" as he put it) from his other leg. His hair was singed and he has had a skin graft on his fractured left hand, which has also been pinned. But David has turned the corner, for which his family is so grateful to God. Gardner told ASSIST News Service (ANS): "When my wife Linda and I first heard David had been caught up in the blast, we prayed that what had been meant for evil would turn out for the glory of God, and we are sure this will happen. We believe he has been spared for a special purpose." Significantly, another of David's rescuers was called Jason, a name that means "healer." And the doctor who treated him on his arrival at hospital -- he was conscious and quite talkative at the time -- was the daughter of his now retired doctor dad's long-time former partner in South Africa. Dr Nicole Richards proved to be an "angel of mercy," even ringing his mum to encourage her and assure her that he would recover.
David, 50, only got married three years ago to Angela, who is 35, and they have a beautiful little boy called Matthew, who is just 20 months. Charles added: "David was my best man at our wedding four years ago and is head server at St John's Church, Hampstead."
Though scattered throughout the globe, the Gardner family are very close with news of David's injuries sparking off constant calls and e-mails -- from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and even the sand-dunes of Namibia! It has been a particularly traumatic time for Angela and David's mum Pat, who is 81, though very sprightly. Both of them had rung his office after hearing of the bombings, knowing his route had been affected, only to find that he hadn't arrived, after which they spent frantic hours wondering where he was. Fortunately David had been conscious enough to give their telephone numbers to the doctor, who sent a text message to Angela. Angela then walked (there was no public transport) all the way from Fleet Street to Paddington, a distance of several miles, only to be initially prevented from entering the hospital due to security. Like her husband, Angela is a keen marathon runner. Commenting on the atrocity, Charles said: "As Jesus hung on a cross, marred beyond recognition by the hate of sinful men, he prayed: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' In the same way, I pray for the perpetrators of this callous act, that God would forgive them and open their eyes to the love he has shown to all men through his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ." David is now making a remarkable recovery. Even the doctors are surprised at his progress. "We visited him on Saturday and found him in excellent spirits, cheering us all up with his tremendous, and sometimes offbeat, humor. He also gave us many details, mostly unsolicited, of his grisly experiences," said Charles. "After removing the arm of a dead victim from off himself, he then felt what he described as 'blood and guts,' which he first thought belonged to someone else until he realized it was his own leg. He used parts of his suit as a tourniquet; other passengers also tore off strips from their clothes to help stop the bleeding. "All the windows and doors were blown out and it is just a miracle he survived at all," Charles said. "(David) holds no grudge or thirst for vengeance for the perpetrators of the atrocity and is irritated by statements from the media that the victims don't want 'tea and sympathy,' but answers. "Love is in fact what the world needs more of, he says, and he has been wonderfully borne up by the prayers and support of friends, family and Christians all over the world. Even his old school -- St Andrew's College in South Africa -- were praying for him in their chapel service on Sunday July 10th. That was the day he turned the corner. "We have seen compassion in action and are most grateful to God and so many people for the overwhelming support and kind thoughts that have been expressed." Finally, Charles Gardner quoted St Paul as he wrote to the church at Corinth: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God," (2 Cor. 1,3 & 4).
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