London bombings survivor meets her hero

Nov 1 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Chris, whose ship was hit when he served in the Falklands War, said: “I don’t think it ever goes away for me or for Lisa.

“For the rest of her life she will remember that awful day and I think it’s the same for anyone who has been involved in any kind of atrocity.

“Seeing Lisa again is absolutely fantastic. Before the day itself, I was in two minds, but when we actually met I welled up a little bit. And I think she’s done an inspirational job.”

Tomorrow’s Inside Out programme sees presenter Chris Jackson follow Lisa as she conquers her fears by detonating landmines in Cambodia, getting back on a London bus and skydiving from 13,000ft.

Close to the scene of the incident, Lisa tells Chris: “It doesn’t get any easier”.

Her husband Russ says the first two to three years were very hard for her, and her sister Sharleen recounts a time not long after the incident when seeing a double-decker bus on the street caused Lisa great difficulty.

But her determination to overcome her fears and to make every day count takes her to Cambodia, a country that is littered with landmines following years of war.

There, she embarks on a house building project for a landmine survivor, in a project funded and facilitated by the Mines Advisory Group charity based in Manchester.

Lisa said: “I’ve got empathy for a lot of people in this country and it’s a good way of putting my experience into some positive action.”

After her trip to Cambodia, she returns to London to conquer her next fear: taking a trip on a double-decker bus.

Presenter Chris accompanies her as she eventually makes her way to the top deck and points out the exact seat on the bus that she was sat on four years ago.

Her final challenge sees her cajole presenter Chris Jackson into overcoming one of his own fears, of heights, by taking part in a tandem sky dive 13,000ft above Peterlee in County Durham.

* Inside Out is on tomorrow on BBC 1 at 7.30pm.