Today’s guest columnist is Emily Lyons, RN.
Daniel walked to his garage in North Carolina.
He set up a video camera and started recording.
Looking at the camera, he said words to the effect of “This is for the media and the FBI,” applied a tourniquet, and used a radial arm saw to cut off his hand.
He drove himself to the hospital, leaving his severed hand behind.
This immediately brings up three questions.
- What is my involvement?
- What does this have to do with Birmingham?
- Why would someone cut off their hand?
What is my involvement?
I’ve had 60 operations over the years, mostly for shrapnel removal or various problems caused by a bombing. A piece of the plastic box that contained the bomb was removed from my sinus last year. A couple of the more recent ones have been due to my fight with cancer, which I am winning.
What does this have to do with Birmingham?
This story actually begins in Georgia.
Eric Robert Rudolph left a backpack containing the largest pipe bomb in US history at the Atlanta Olympics. The bomb used gunpowder and was on a timer.
Rudolph called 911 but was hung up on. He went to another phone and called again saying that there was a bomb in Centennial Park and that they had 30 minutes.
The bomb exploded 20 minutes later, killing a woman and injuring over 100 others. That woman was a wife and a mother.
Rudolph continued his bombings using timed devices. One was at a nightclub and one was at a women’s clinic that performed abortions.
Someone thought a padlock was sufficient security to store 300 pounds of dynamite, so Rudolph was able to move from gunpowder to stolen high explosives. Rudolph was military trained. Our tax dollars funded his training on how to build explosives, recon targets, and to evade capture. Instead of defending against enemies foreign and domestic, he became a domestic terrorist.
Eric spent time in Birmingham surveilling the three clinics that provided pregnancy terminations. Of the three, the New Woman All Women clinic seemed the best target.
Eric progressed from gunpowder devices on timers to dynamite and remote control before selecting a Birmingham clinic as his next target.
The remote control had a range of up to a mile, so the first thought was that he could trigger it from far away. However, trees blocked his line of sight. So, he placed the bomb at the clinic and stood across the street.
Rudolph saw a Birmingham policeman and a nurse arrive at the clinic and find his package. The nurse was me, which answers the question of my involvement. He moved the lever on the controller which murdered the officer and severely injured me.
An amazing college student known only as EW1 (Eye Witness One,) followed Rudolph and got his tag number. And so began one of the most extensive manhunts in history. The government spent around $30 million in the search.
There was a $1 million reward for his arrest while he was on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted. The hunt continued for five years. In one of the many twists and turns of this story, a rookie cop was doing a routine patrol and happened upon Rudolph while he was dumpster diving.
Why would someone cut off their hand?
Daniel was Eric’s brother. While Eric was playing hide and seek in the woods, Daniel became frustrated and so he decided to amputate his hand.
Why? Perhaps this was some form of protest against the media coverage and the intrusion of the FBI. He may have felt that his brother was innocent and being unfairly accused.
Daniel talked about the passage in the Bible Matthew 5:30 “if thy hand offend thee, cut if off,” though he never said what his hand did that was offensive.
Perhaps he was jealous of all the attention his brother received. If so, it didn’t get him much. The press covered the story, but only briefly. The FBI released a statement that simply said that they had no interest in Eric’s brother.
If Daniel ever gave a logical reason, I do not know what it is. Even if he did, how much faith can you put into the words of someone who thinks that cutting their hand off sounds like a good idea?
I said that this event raised questions. The one remaining unanswered is what happened to the hand. First responders drove to Daniels house and retrieved it. Surgeons were able to reattach, and he regained at least some use.
What happened to Eric Rudolph?
As to Eric Rudolph, he had hundreds of pounds of dynamite buried in the Carolinas. Dynamite is a combination of nitro glycerin, EGDN (ethylene glycol dinitrate,) and a binding material to hold it all together. As it ages, the nitro and EGDN tend to separate which makes it more and more unstable.
Even if Rudolph did not build another bomb (which he did,) the unstable explosives left a major hazard that could have ended countless lives at any time. He traded the location of the dynamite for the removal of the death sentence and accepted a plea bargain.
Rudolph admitted to all the bombings, including the Olympics.
Our tax dollars continue to provide him with “three hots and a cot” on Bomber’s Row in the Colorado Supermax prison. And yes, our country has endured enough bombings to have a special prison area called Bomber’s Row.
As for me, I am not a bombing victim – I am a bombing survivor.
Trauma, tragedy, and hardship do not make a person special.
Life knocks everybody down.
What counts is how you stand back up.
Emily Lyons, RN, received her degree in nursing from UAB. She worked in labor and delivery, was an emergency room nurse, taught nursing, provided home health care services, and was director of nursing at the New Woman All Women clinic in Birmingham. She is the author of Life’s Been a Blast, available on Amazon in print and audiobook. Emily’s website: https://emilylyons.com/
Al.com recently released American Shrapnel, an 8 series podcast telling the Eric Rudolph story.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com
Thank you, Emily, for sharing your survivor’s story here and for your lifetime of contributions to our community as a professional nurse and an exceptional person. Your story is especially important today as we see increasing political violence and domestic terrorism. I am cheered to hear that you are winning your battle back to good health!
Emily, thank you. Your courage is inspiring and please know how many of us in our community remember your MANY sacrifices. I’ve always thought there should be a historical marker installed where the clinic used to be. With its proximity to UAB and all the students who pass there, it is an opportunity for your story, and the stories of the other brave people involved/affected, to be told and shared with subsequent generations.