30 April 2010

A 94-year-old survivor of the London Blitz bombings will, for the first time, return to the hospital which saved her life 70 years ago.

On Tuesday 4 May, Mrs Doris Leci will revisit The Royal London Hospital, where she spent two months recovering after becoming a casualty of the Blitz in the Second World War

In 1940, at the age of 25, Mrs Leci was one of only three people who survived a bomb attack on her father’s East End factory that killed 20 people. She was taken to The Royal London Hospital where staff nursed her back to health.

“My husband visited me in hospital each day and on his way through Covent Garden he would pick me some flowers,” Mrs Leci recalls.

“Each morning when my consultant came to check on me, I would give him one of these flowers to wear in his button hole throughout the day.

“When I was released from hospital, my consultant gave me a photograph of himself and other staff holding one of the stethoscopes they used to check if bombs that had fallen within the hospital grounds were live or not.

“I’ve kept that photo for 70 years but am now donating it to The Royal London’s museum as an important reminder of the brave work of the staff who worked there during the Blitz.”

Mrs Leci was released from hospital on 9 October 1940, the day St Paul’s Cathedral was bombed.

The Royal London Hospital was pivotal in organising emergency medical services to the north and east of London during the Second World War.

Despite suffering heavy damage during and after the Blitz, The Royal London continued to provide vital trauma medical services to the London community throughout the Second World War.

Press are invited to a photo opportunity:

Mrs Leci will be meeting with The Royal London’s Director of Trauma, Mr Mike Walsh, and other hospital staff to donate a historic photo of her consultant and hospital staff taken on her ward during the Second World War.

Earlier that day (Tuesday 4 May), Mrs Leci will be one of a number of residents from Springview Residential Home in Enfield who are visiting The Royal London to make a donation to the London’s Air Ambulance.

The Springview Residential Home has raised £2,000 which will be presented to staff of the London’s Air Ambulance on the helipad at 2pm.

The London’s Air Ambulance operates from The Royal London and, as a registered charity, relies on community support to continue its pioneering, pre-hospital trauma service responding to the most serious incidents within the Greater London area.

Contact: For more information contact Shannon Gillespie at Barts and the London NHS Trust’s Press Office on 02074 804 892 or email shannon.gillespie@bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk

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Notes for editors

• Barts and The London is one of Britain’s top teaching hospital trusts.  Our mission is literally to bring excellence to life – to give patients the best possible care so that they can live better, fuller, longer lives.
• Our world-renowned hospitals – St Bartholomew’s (Barts) in the City, The Royal London in Whitechapel and The London Chest in Bethnal Green – have made and continue to make an outstanding contribution to modern medicine. Read more about our full portfolio of services at www.bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk.
• Our £1 billion new hospitals programme is set to transform healthcare facilities locally. When completed the new hospital at The Royal London will be the biggest new hospital in the country, while the new buildings at Barts will house a brand-new cancer hospital and cardiac centre.

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