Victim of Nice attack runs marathon for hospital that rebuilt his hand

Grateful: Laurence Olding married Catherine a year after they were caught up in the terrorist attack in Nice

A holidaymaker injured in the Nice lorry terror attack in 2016 is running the marathon to thank the London hospital that treated him afterwards.

Laurence Olding, 33, underwent pioneering keyhole surgery at St Thomas’s hospital to rebuild his right hand, which was shattered in 12 places at the wrist.

He had smashed it when he landed on concrete after jumping over a high promenade wall to escape the 19-tonne truck as it careered through crowds, killing 86 and injuring 458.

Mr Olding, a market researcher from Pimlico, and fiancée Catherine were on holiday at the time of the Bastille Day attack. Both jumped over the wall on the Promenade des Anglais and were briefly separated in the panic.

He said: “It was very scary. We saw the truck coming and it driving into other people so we knew we had to act fast.

“Luckily we could get out of the way, but we saw people hit by the truck who were badly injured or killed — it was awful. We were in a state of shock and horror. In the months that followed it was something that dominated our lives and we thought about it a lot.”

French police forces and forensic officers stand next to the truck that ran into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on July 15, 2016.
REUTERS

His wrist was put in a plaster-cast in France and he was advised to seek treatment on his return home. A couple of weeks later, specialist hand and wrist surgeon Lorenzo Garagnani inserted pins, screws and a plate onto his wrist to hold the bone fragments in place.

Mr Garagnani said: “The keyhole procedure is a very skilled operation and is used in selected complex cases. Seeing as Laurence’s fracture was extremely bad we wanted him to have the best possible treatment. It allows us to make the joint more stable and put the fragments in the best possible position, which improves the joint’s recovery and function in future.”

Mr Olding, who is right-handed, said: “My wrist was painful and at a funny angle. I couldn’t use my right hand at all. I couldn’t play sports, go to the gym or use a keyboard, so it had a big impact on my job.” After the operation, he had 18 months of therapy and rehabilitation, led by hand therapists Sara Probert and Michelle Razo. He and Catherine, 31, married last June and returned to Nice during their honeymoon.

Mr Olding hopes that his first marathon will raise £4,500 to help other orthopaedic patients at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals. He said: “I am extremely grateful to everyone involved in my care. Thanks to the great encouragement I received from the surgeon, his team and the hand therapists I was able to push myself during my rehabilitation to get the best possible movement back in my wrist. Now I can do pretty much everything I could do before.”

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