Awards honour for heroes
A TEENAGER injured in the Manchester Arena bombing who has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity and a woman who exposed the sickening abuse of young girls in Rochdale have been honoured with NHS Heroes Awards.
Freya Lewis and Sara Rowbotham have been recognised for their incredible efforts to help others.
They will pick up their awards at a star-studded ceremony tomorrow.
Celebrities will pay tribute to their extraordinary dedication at the event, put on by ITV and The Mirror, in London. A video message from Prince William will also be played.
Freya, 15, will take to the stage to collect The Young Fundraising Hero award. She was just three metres away from the blast that ripped through the Arena on May 22.
Nearly a year on, Freya, from Holmes Chapel, has undergone more than 60 hours of surgery and has learned to walk again.
The inspirational teenager has never stopped smiling, despite unimaginable heartbreak. Her friend Nell Jones, 14, was tragically killed in the bombing.
Freya, who will take part in the children’s Greater Manchester Run on May 22, has raised more than £40,000 for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity as a way of thanking the medics who saved her life.
Sara, 50, will pick up the Special Recognition award for her efforts to expose the Rochdale grooming scandal – and help victims.
Her tireless work to support abused under-age girls as part of the NHS’ cri- sis intervention team in the town was documented in three-part BBC Drama Three Girls.
Sara, a Rochdale council cabinet member, was a confidante for terrified victims.
And the evidence she compiled helped bring the men responsible for the horrific crimes to justice.
The pair will be handed their awards at the red carpet event, to mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the NHS, at London’s Hilton on Park Lane hotel.
Other winners include a surgeon who saved the first stabbing victim of the London Bridge terror attack and the country’s first ever female professor of surgery. Prince William will tell the audience: The NHS Heroes Awards – hosted by Paul O’Grady – will be shown on ITV at 8.30pm on Monday, May 21.