I WANT TO FEEL ELLA’S PAIN
THE mum of a victim of the Manchester bombing is in torment over her daughter’s mental scars.
Louise McGovern is desperate to help Ella, 14, move on from the horror she endured at the Ariana Grande gig in May.
In a heartfelt interview, she said: “Scars and wounds, they’ll heal but I can’t take those memories away and I feel upset that she’s hurt and I’m not hurt and I want to feel that pain.
“I want to be able to see what she saw…hear what she heard. I don’t know what to say to make her feel better.”
Ella, who was at Manchester Arena with 31 school friends, was buying T-shirts when the explosion happened.
Suicide bomber Salman Abedi was just 15 metres from her at the time.
She was left with eight leg injuries and perforated ear drums in the attack which left 22 innocents dead.
Recalling the tragedy, Ella said: “The noise was a loud bang but you didn’t almost hear the bang. It was kind of a bang and then straight into a ringing sound.”
The brave youngster, from Helmshore in Lancashire, told of the moments after the horrific blast.
She said: “We tried to ring our mums and dads but it just wasn’t working because we couldn’t hear anything.
“The only parts you could hear was when they were shouting and saying, ‘Can you hear me?’ or stuff like that.” Louise, who was on her way to the concert to pick up Ella, said: “I received the phone call from Ella, who was hysterical.
“The words came very clear. She said, ‘Mummy, there’s been a bomb’.
“Receiving the phone calls made me feel really helpless.
“I’m her mum and I wanted to be there and it made me feel really frightened something else could happen. I needed to get to her.”
Ella was given vital support by stranger Jennifer Lee and together they fled the arena.
On a new TV series, Ella said: “We didn’t really talk to each other. The only time we talked to each other was, ‘Come on, come on, let’s go. Come on, we need to get out’. The only time we really let it all out was when we were stood outside the light shop. We just looked at each other and we just burst out crying.”
Louise added: “I can still remember seeing Ella on the floor, covered in blood. Seeing my daughter in that state, I just held her.” They were rushed to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where Ella was given emergency treatment during the night.
Louise said: “I can’t even describe the thoughts that went through my head that night. I really thought I’d lose Ella.”
It was only when Louise tended to Ella herself that she realised the true horror of what she’d been through. She added: “I went in to Ella and said she really needs to have a wash. My cousin helped me wash Ella’s hair.
“It was covered in – I’ve never seen anything like it – black charcoal, skin and blood.”
Crimes That Shook Britain is on Crime + Investigation, Sky channel 553, tonight at 10pm.