A doctor has told for the first time how she lost a leg in a near-fatal HGV collision as her artist husband prepares to open an exhibition showing the impact it has had on their lives.
Nedah Darabi, 38, a GP and academic, was cycling along the Embankment to Charing Cross hospital to lecture to medical students when she was hit by a lorry driver as he turned left towards Battersea Bridge.
Dr Darabi underwent emergency multiple operations at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. Surgeons were unable to save her lower right leg.
She believes she only survived because a woman motorist banged on the lorry driver’s window to tell him that she was trapped under the wheels.
“If she hadn’t done that, probably I would have been killed,” she said.
Next month her husband, Tom Berry, 40, will display paintings that he created in the aftermath of the crash to express his emotions and to document the impact the incident, in January 2022, has had on the couple.
Mr Berry said: “This event was so huge in our lives. There are a lot of emotions I felt, that I had to take outside of my head and put into painting.
“I think it has been a helpful process. It’s not exclusively a tragic story or a story of triumph in adversity. There are feelings of grief and loss. There are also feelings of love and gratitude. Nedah was incredibly lucky on that day as well as incredibly unlucky.”
Police had called Mr Berry on Dr Darabi’s phone to enable her to speak to him briefly as she was being treated by emergency medics at the scene.
At the time, Covid restrictions meant Mr Berry was the only person able to visit Dr Darabi in hospital.
“I was either at hospital or at home waiting,” he recalled. “I was isolated from Nedah a lot.”
He said the exhibition, One Step At A Time, at the Lewisham Arthouse from March 21 until April 1, is a demonstration of “love in difficult times”.
The pictures are intended to let the couple tell their story on their terms and “not let this be something that happened to us”. They will not be available for sale.
Dr Darabi said: “I felt really moved seeing them all. It happened to me but it’s also life-changing for Tom. It’s been life-changing for my family. It’s made me reflect on that.”
The junction at the north side of Battersea Bridge is notoriously dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.
A jogger, Jack Ryan, was killed in a car crash in 2021. A 27-year-old woman cyclist, whose name has never been made public by police, was killed by a HGV last August.
Dr Darabi initially spent a month in hospital and requires further surgery. She suffers constant pain and fatigue and can only work part-time.
The couple have had to move to a stair-free home.
A civil case seeking compensation from the lorry firm’s insurers is ongoing.
During her recovery, Dr Darabi became a trustee of the London Cycling Campaign because of its work lobbying for safer junctions.
“When the cyclist was killed at Battersea bridge that was very upsetting for me,” she said. “It felt important for me to channel all my anger into something that I felt would be more positive.
“I’m not really cycling in London any more. I loved cycling. I do miss it. But I think I would need to feel safer first.”
