Intro Text
On January 29th, 1998, a terrorist detonated a homemade bomb filled with nails and gravel outside a women’s health clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.
The explosion killed Robert Sanderson, a police officer working security, and severely injured nurse Emily Lyons.
At StoryCorps, Emily spoke with her husband Jeff.
Transcript:
Emily Lyons (EL) and Jeff Lyons (JL)
EL: I didn’t know about the risk when I got the job. When I went to work the first day, I was wondering why there was protesters standing out on the street screaming at me as I was driving in.
It was a rude awakening for me. So, as time went by, it wasn’t just a job.
JL: How old was your youngest patient?
EL: The youngest patient I ever had was 10 years old. As I was speaking with her, she didn’t know how she was pregnant. Nobody had taught her anything.
And I can remember the day a woman took my hand and she just, you know, squeezed it and said, “Thank you.” That made you know that it was all worthwhile.
But, one day, I went to work pretty much like any other day. And a patient and her father pointed at something over in the yard and he said, “What is that?” And Sande, the police officer, took out his nightstick and started to go through to the bomb. Well, the terrorist was standing across the street, so he pushed the button, and watched the destruction that he did to Sande and myself.
JL: The police officer, Sande, was murdered. He saved the person that is most important to me, and yet I never met him.
EL: Sande was very mild-mannered, courteous. He was not pro-choice. But he knew he had a job to do the days that he came to the clinic to provide security. It didn’t matter to him why you were there. He was there to protect us.
And yes, indeed, on that day, his body did protect me.
JL: When I walked in, to the hospital, I thought I was in the wrong room. I didn’t recognize you. It was that bad.
JL: How many operations have you had so far?
EL: As of this year, there have been 57. Every day that I get up, it’s an effort to get out of bed.
But scars just tell people that you were stronger than those who tried to hurt you.
I don’t know what happened during that bomb but it sure flipped a switch in my brain, because not much intimidates you once you’ve been blown up.
You know, life knocks everybody down. But what matters is how you stand up, and we have stood up together.
Outro text:
Robert “Sande” Sanderson was the first person killed in an abortion clinic bombing in the U.S.
He was 34.
