ARENA BOMB SURVIVOR’S MESSAGE OF HOPE
Arena bomb survivor talks of tragedy, loss and striving for happiness in her inspirational new book
IT is a stark and terrifying memory.
“I was writing a text to dad, telling him we were on our way, when I looked up and saw this guy.
“He stood ten metres away, dressed all in black, with a cap and glasses and a backpack.
“I could see either side of his face and thought his deadpan expression seemed a bit strange.
“‘I love you more than anything in the world,’ Nell said.
“‘I love you too,’ I replied, smiling and pressing send on the text.
“In that exact moment everything went wrong. There was a piercing sound – the loudest thing I’d ever heard.
“I was flown forward into a giant bright light. Everything was in slow motion, and then Nell’s arm slipped out of mine.”
Freya Lewis’s description of the moment the Manchester Arena bomb was detonated is at the core of her new book.
But her story is far more than a record of horror and tragedy through the eyes of a then 14-year-old girl.
It is how through the brilliance of surgeons, nurses and the astonishing love of strangers, family and friends she survived.
Freya and her best friend Nell Jones were still elated in the aftermath of the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017, as they walked across its concourse arm in arm. They were ecstatic with youthful joy when the bomber struck at 10.30pm. Nell was one of the 22 people killed.
Freya suffered 29 injuries including broken legs, a broken arm, shrapnel wounds to her left eye, a broken nose, perforated eardrum, the loss of several teeth, multiple cuts, nerve damage to her left hand and burns all over her body.
Surgeons at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital spent 10 hours saving her life and limbs.
In total, Freya would need 23 hours of surgery in five separate operations.
She was consumed by guilt at the loss of Nell. But the first step in dealing with that was an incredible gesture by Nell’s mother. She dropped off a small fluffy owl – Nell’s favourite toy from her childhood – for Freya. It was one of many acts of love which spurred her survival.
She and Nell were both in Year Nine at Holmes Chapel High School, in Cheshire.
Freya told the M.E.N.: “She was someone that I aspired to be just like. She was kind, funny, intelligent, and just beautiful inside and out.”
Recalling the moments after the bomb went off, she said: “I was saved and looked after by an incredible couple, Kim and Phil Dick, who along with paramedics and police, kept me alive. “There was so much blood, pain, and chaos. I was certain I wasn’t going to live.” It was her darkest moment, amplified by the agonising absence of her father, Nick, who was at first unable to reach her. He had been waiting just outside the foyer to take them home.
Asked how she survived, Freya said: “Being stuck in a hospital bed for almost six weeks would’ve been horrific if it wasn’t for the staff at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and my family.
“All the nurses, doctors and surgeons were incredible and did more than their job – they literally put me back together again.”
She handles the mental scars of the atrocity with maturity beyond her years.
“If I spent the rest of my life being angry or bitter at any of the culprits for the attack, I wouldn’t be happy and it wouldn’t be a life worth living.
“I’ve been given a second chance at life now, I have to make the most of it.”
Another inspiration was Ariana Grande, who she met in hospital.
“She was incredible and so inspiring. She held my hand, laughed and cried with me.
“She gave me the strength to be positive and to be happy again.”
● Freya’s book, What Makes Us Stronger is out now, published by Seven Dials, priced £14.99.
● To support Freya’s fundraising, text FREYA to 70085 to donate £5. This will cost your £5 donation plus a standard rate message charge. Or you can give any whole amount up to £20.
All the nurses, doctors and surgeons were incredible - they literally put me back together again Freya Lewis