"My life has been destroyed, what else is there to know?"

Karen Northshield used to be an athlete, a swimming champion and a fitness coach when fate struck. She was (literally) blown away on 22 March 2016 when the first terrorist struck at Brussels Airport. She survived, though doctors were afraid she wouldn't make it. She had to undergo dozens of operations and stayed in hospital and in a recovery centre for 3.5 years. Now she can walk again, with crutches and a support at her left foot. 

"I came from hell", Northshield tells the VRT. Asked whether she will assist the trial, she says she probably won't for various reasons. She impaired hearing after the blast, and she cannot sit still on a chair for too long as her body no longer allows it. "But to be honest, I don't have the energy to do it. I'd rather save my energy for my recovery process." 

"I know what happened that day. I am being confronted with my handicaps every day.  Whichever punishment will be given, it does not make any difference to me. I will never get my old life and my health back. Whether the trial will bring answers or not, my life has been devastated. For nothing. So there is no answer on the question why it happened."

Not only the judicial authorities, but everyone, also the government, the insurance companies... everyone should have taken their responsibility. I haven't seen any sympathy from the insurers. They are also part of the system. Innocent lives have been devastated for nothing and we have to beg them for recognition. For what is fair." 

Karen doesn't know yet if she will appear as a witness. "I don't what I should say. I don't know if my statement would have any impact. I wrote my story down in a book (Blown away by the bomb, 2021). That had therapeutical effect for me, it still has. It is something positive for me and society and that's the most important thing."