I was maimed by Ariana Grande bomber and put in a coma – Manchester City helped get me back on my feet
SHE is not a footie fan but Manchester Arena bombing survivor Lucy Jarvis credits the city’s teams with getting her back on her feet.
The student suffered serious internal injuries and shrapnel in her left ankle from the blast at an Ariana Grande gig in May 2017, when a suicide bomber killed 22 innocent people.
Lucy, from Wigan, told The Sun: “At hospital they put me in an induced coma because my injuries were so severe.
“They knew I was going to have to have multiple surgeries.”
Shrapnel ripped through Lucy’s internal organs and some became lodged in her left ankle.
She underwent eight operations at Salford Royal Hospital, including bladder and bowel reconstructions and a bone graft, leaving in a wheelchair after two months with pins — a fixator — in her ankle.
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Lucy, 22, said: “I went from being in college, going out into town with my friends and having more freedom to suddenly stopping all that, not being able to do anything without help from my parents.
"Even in college I had a carer who wheeled me around.
“It was very draining, physically and emotionally.”
The We Love Manchester Emergency Fund paid for her to have almost seven months of physio at the elite Manchester Institute of Health & Performance (MIHP).
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The £18million clinic, part-funded by Manchester City, is located on the Etihad campus, within walking distance of the Premier League champs’ ground.
It is used by athletes and top-flight footballers, including Man United stars, for physiotherapy and nutritional help.
Lucy said: “It made me better quicker, if that makes sense. I don’t think I would have got that intense level of care anywhere else.”
As a United fan, her father David, 58, loved the set-up.
Lucy said with a laugh: “My dad used to take me. He was always looking out for footballers.”
She visited the facility three or four times a week between June 2018 and January 2019.
She said: “It was really intense physio. I started in June, still in a wheelchair. I’d just had the fixator off my ankle, then worked my way very slowly to learning to walk again.
“I started off with a Zimmer frame, then crutches, then one crutch. All that time I was getting stronger.
"I’ve still only got something like 50 per cent movement in my left ankle. It’s a lifelong thing I’ve got to deal with.”
Lucy opens up about the attack in ITV documentary Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing, which begins tonight.
‘Memories are blurred’
Despite her devastating injuries, she had to wait hours for paramedics to arrive in the arena’s concourse.
Venue workers John Clarkson and Paul Worsley stayed with her as she lay bleeding.
Lucy told ITV: “I remember being with them for what felt like a long time, waiting for an ambulance.”
She bravely gave evidence at the bombing inquiry, which heard how Greater Manchester Police had failed to notify emergency services that it was safe to go into the arena for two hours.
More than 800 suffered physical and psychological injuries.
Inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said there were “serious shortcomings” in the response to the attack.
Lucy said: “I didn’t know much about what happened on the night. My memories were quite blurred.
“To find out later it took them a long time to get into the arena . . . I was shocked.”
British Transport Police admitted to “a number of systemic failings” in its response, and Greater Manchester Police has also apologised for its failures.
Lucy said: “People were severely injured that night who didn’t get the help they needed fast enough.
“People have had similar stories to me — who were injured, who had to spend hours in the train station waiting for ambulances.
"Things people saw, and had to sit through — I want people to realise that.”
Lucy revisited the arena just months after the attack, after her rescuers John and Paul sent her tickets to a show. S
he said: “I was never going to not go to concerts again. I used to go all the time. I went sooner rather than later — like ripping the plaster off.”
Lucy went with her mum and dad and describes it as a “good experience”. She has seen three more Ariana Grande shows.
As she lay in a coma in hospital, another celeb reached out.
Actor Hugh Jackman, who went to school with a cousin of friends of Lucy’s parents, made a video wishing her a speedy recovery that was watched more than 600,000 times by fans.
Lucy said: “When I woke up I got bombarded with messages from people saying they hoped I was OK.
"Then everyone was saying, ‘Hugh Jackman’s Instagrammed a video of you!’ It really gave me something to smile about.”
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The University of Salford student hopes to become a documentary maker — inspired in part by interviews she did with The Sun and ITV.
She said: “Being a part of these made me want to work in that field. I was part of a life-changing event. And I want to show people other life-changing events.”
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- Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing, is on ITV tonight at 9pm, with part two at 9pm on Thursday.
