It was March 2017, and Cara and Stephen Lockwood had been married six months. Stephen’s 40th birthday was coming up on the 22nd, and Cara wanted to do something special for him. “I wanted to plan something fun to do.”
What could be more fun than swimming with sharks at the London Aquarium? “You basically get into a shark cage made of string and have sharks swim at you,” she says. Stephen quickly corrects her, “Rope! Not string. It was something we always wanted to do.”
They both laugh. It’s a subdued laugh, though, because that special day would turn into a nightmare.
After swimming with sharks, they planned to go to The Berkeley, a high-end hotel with an amazing restaurant. Cara, who has always been a bit sociophobic, was nervous about taking the London Tube because of all the people. Plus, there had been terrorist scares recently, so the city was on high alert, which really ramped up her anxiety. They decided to take a stroll across Westminster Bridge and get a taxi on the Big Ben side.
She remembers walking with Stephen up the steps onto the bridge, feeling a bit off. It was a fairly nice day, and there were a few other people farther across the bridge, and four or five behind them. She and Stephen were halfway across the bridge when she heard a vehicle accelerating behind her. At first, she thought it was one of the smaller maintenance vehicles that buzz across the bridge occasionally. But why was it accelerating?
Suddenly, both she and Stephen were hit from behind by an SUV. She flew up into the air and fell to the ground. She was stunned, but realized she was okay; she could still walk and run. But where was Stephen? She scanned the bridge. He was lying in the road, not moving. She ran to him.
Stephen has no memory of what happened.
From news reports, Stephen was scooped up onto the hood of an SUV that was barreling down the bridge, flew into the air, thrown into the back end of a bus, and was dumped onto the road, hitting his head, fracturing his skull, neck, back, ribs, puncturing his lung – and shattering bones in his left leg, ripping part of his calf open.
This was the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack. The aftermath of the attack is well-documented in a BBC series called Hospital as the victims, including Stephen and Cara, arrive at St. Mary’s Hospital. You can watch it here.
Recovery: “It was heartbreaking.”
Recovery was long and slow, taking years of physical therapy for Stephen to be able to walk again. He had seven operations on his leg. They had to keep repeating the surgery in order to get the bone to grow properly. A skin flap had to be taken from his right thigh to reconstruct his calf, which was completely ripped open.“The repetition was heartbreaking,” says Stephen. “We’d get our hopes up and then have to go back into surgery over and over again.”
That was just the physical side. “The mental side was torture,” says Cara. “We were completely unprepared for this, both individually and as a couple. Trying to move back to normalcy. You feel different in the world. How do you reconnect?”
“Watching people pass away and your husband nearly dying,” says Cara. “Steve would sometimes say that he had it better than me. All he’s got to do is lie there, medicated, and get operated on.”
Husband and wife became Patient and Nurse. Cara had to lift, carry, and wash Stephen during his long recovery. She had no background in this. To add to the immense pressure, within a few months of the attack, Cara’s father was diagnosed with cancer and was slowly dying. He sadly lost his battle in February 2018.
“We lost our identity. We went to therapy to help deal with the ordeal. To understand this new normal. And to try to realize there is a future.”
Finding Zwift
In September of 2021, after Stephen’s last operation and recovery, they decided to move to the French countryside.
One day in France, Stephen was watching YouTube and Zwift popped up. Because of the incident, they both struggled to be in crowded places. They had tried running, but with the high impact on Stephen’s leg and the increasing anxiety of hearing vehicles coming from behind, they felt it wasn’t the right fit. But Zwift looked interesting to him. He investigated it a bit more and thought it looked safe. He started watching Zwift streamers. He asked Cara if it was okay for him to invest some money into it. Cara checked it out and said, “Only if I can do it too!” So, in January 2024, they went to the local bike shop, got the cheapest bikes they could afford, and started Zwifting.
“Zwift is a big part of our lives now,” says Stephen.
They Zwift together five to six times a week. “We love it! Especially the epic races. It feels so good to work your butt off and finish – and maybe have a bit of a cry when you achieve a big goal.”
Over Christmas 2025, Cara joined Christoffer Wikman’s charity ride for cancer and helped raise funds by riding 100 km a day. The ride was also a personal connection for Cara to remember her father who had passed away from cancer.
They love racing and doing the long rides and challenges, like riding Zwift’s 30 longest routes in 30 days.
“It’s helped build up strength in my legs,” says Stephen. “It gives me a mental lift – a sense of fulfillment. I’ve lost weight and I’m eating right. We haven’t had a drink of alcohol in over a year.”
They have dark days. “Zwift and the wonderful community give you a sense of goodness, camaraderie. If I drop out of a group, people come back and help me get back in. That’s kindness. It’s encouraging,” says Cara.
“We can’t tell you how important Zwift is to us. We are so grateful. So full of gratitude. It has helped us reconnect and have hope again.”
Ride on, Stephen and Cara! We are grateful for you two as well.
You can follow them on Zwift at:
- Cara: CaraLockwood
- Stephen: LookMumNoHands
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