Triumphing Over Adversity

9/11 is a date will remain seared forever in the collective memory of Americans. For Londoners, their doomsday date arrived on 7th July 2005, when a series of explosions in the subway and on a bus caused unimaginable havoc and destruction. The majesty of the human condition is sometimes glimpsed in the heroism and determination in ignites in some individuals. On 9/11, it was demonstrated in the heroism of the firefighters who risked their lives at the World Trade Centre. For a building projects manager, in London, it was demonstrated – not by any spectacular feat of heroism – but by a determination to never say die; literally.

When Danny Biddle got into the London Underground train on that fateful morning, he could hardly have imagined that this was the day his life would change forever. The terrorist blasts that rocked London on that dreadful day, singled out Biddle for special attention.

Biddle was on his way to a business meeting, when suicide bomber, Mohammad Sidique Khan, detonated explosives in his rucksack, killing himself and six others. He was standing just 18 inches from Khan on the packed train, and the blast blew him out of the carriage. His legs were guillotined by the train doors. He said afterwards: "Lying on that Tube track I thought I would die and I still can’t believe that I didn’t. But I don’t believe I’m unlucky."

Biddle spent five weeks in a coma, suffered three heart attacks, lost his spleen and left eye and needed 125 stitches to his head and a total body blood transfusion. He was the last victim to be released from hospital, 358 days after the bombings, and has spent the past nine months learning to walk again on prosthetic limbs.

Biddle, however, refused to give up hope; the hope that he would be one day be able to walk to marry his 27-year-old sweetheart, Lisa Flint, kept him going. At his home in Upminster, Essex, Biddle said: "The bombers may have broken me up, but they didn't beat me. I intend to marry Lisa standing up - to be the man I was when we first met.

And next week, the most seriously injured survivor of the 2005 attack will walk up the aisle to marry his fiancé. Biddle says, "It was always our intention to marry, we love each other very much. But our wedding has been made much more special because we were convinced that it would never happen. This is the day we thought would never come. We want to have a family and lead a normal life, as any couple would. That’s what we’re striving for. There are every day difficulties to do with access and mobility but we’re working to overcome them."

Among the wedding guests will be paramedic Graeme Baker and Tube train driver Lee Hunt, who helped firemen carry Biddle out of the tunnel and into an ambulance. Two nurses from the intensive care unit at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, where he was treated, are also invited.

Well played, Danny. You have splendidly demonstrated what the human spirit can accomplish when it refuses to give up and play dead. You are an inspiration to us all.

DAILY MAIL