Robbie Williams urged to visit mum in hospital
THE brother of a Runcorn mum-oftwo severely injured in the Manchester bomb attack has spoken of the terrifying moment he was called to say his family had been caught up in the disaster.
Stuart McSorley rushed to the scene after his mum, herself hit by shrapnel wounds, called to say sister Joanne had been left in a critical condition by the blast.
As she fights to overcome her injuries, her friends are now appealing for Robbie Williams – whom superfan Joanne had tickets to see this week – to show his support and give her recovery a boost.
Joanne McSorley and her mum Susan Smith were waiting for Joanne’s daughters Ellie and Libbie to come out of the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena when Salman Abedi unleashed his horrifying attack, killing 22 and leaving more than 100 injured.
Standing just yards from the blast, Joanne was left with two broken arms, a shattered knee and elbow and shrapnel injuries to her stomach, chest and legs. ●
Susan was hit in the hand and leg, but was able to ring family in the aftermath of the attack.
Stuart, also from Runcorn, said: “Me and my other sister, Marie, went to Manchester and a police officer took me to my mum.
“She was in a wheelchair but we didn’t know if Joanne was alive or dead. It took a while to find out and I was just in a state of horrendous disbelief that it was happening.
“Joanne had lost a lot of blood and it was very worrying.”
After several days in Manchester Northern General Hospital’s critical care unit, Joanne has now been moved to a trauma unit. She was sedated for three days.
Stuart said: “It’s been a complete change in everyone’s lives. Everyone has been shook up. We are all off work trying to get to hospital.”
As Joanne begins to recover, her friends have launched an appeal in the hope of giving her a muchneeded boost.
The teaching assistant is a massive Robbie Williams fan and has tickets to see him at Manchester’s Etihad stadium.
But, as there is no chance she will be in a position to go, her friends are urging the pop star to visit her in hospital.
Stuart said: “The appeal started on Facebook, with her friends trying to make him aware of her situation and see if he could send her something, or rearrange tickets for a later date, or send a message.
“It is something we are trying to do to give her some good news – if she could get some kind of response to cheer her up and put a smile on her face, it would mean the world to her.”