Touching moment hero cop is reunited with girl, 8, whose life she saved in Manchester bomb attack – as she claims she was ‘just doing my job’
THIS is the touching moment an eight-year-old girl was reunited with the hero policewoman who saved her life in the Manchester Arena terror attack.
In tender scenes, Lily Harrison presents PC Cath Daley with a card and gives her a hug - 100 days after the atrocity in which 22 people were killed and 29 injured.
Lily almost died after she was struck in the shoulder by metal shrapnel from Salman Abedi’s bomb after watching the Ariana Grande concert on May 22 with her parents Lauren and Adam.
Speaking on ITV documentary Manchester: 100 Days After The Attack, Lily’s mum Lauren Thorpe, who was also injured, recalled: “We just lay her on the carpark floor and she was unconscious and she just wouldn’t wake up.
"A police officer came across us and he kind of looked at Lily and you could kind of hear him on the radio seeing if he could get us an ambulance but there wasn’t any chance that an ambulance could get to us and Adam just said to him, ‘You need to get us out of here, I need to get my daughter to the hospital.’”
The show, which airs tonight, tells the story of how survivors are recovering and how those who lost loved ones are slowly trying to rebuild their lives.
Lauren continued: “Every minute that we were in that carpark more people were kind of streaming down with injuries and it was absolute chaos.”
Cath was next on the scene and took the decision to rush unconscious Lily to hospital herself – fearing she’d punctured a lung.
Cath explained: “On the way I was quite concerned that if Lilly lost consciousness then I would have to stop the vehicle and give CPR.
"So I kept shouting into the back, albeit it was quite loud with the sirens going. I kept shouting is she conscious, breathing and dad kept reassuring me, yeah - she’s fine.”
Thanking Cath in person, Lauren said: “We’re just really grateful cos obviously without you getting us there, obviously it could have been a completely different situation.
"She’s recovered so quickly and just you can see what she’s like now. We don’t know how to thank you. You said, ‘I was just doing my job,’ but… we just don’t know how to thank you enough."
Cath, from the British Transport Police, replied: “You’ve said it, you don’t need to say anymore, just seeing you guys here today is all the thanks I need, honestly.”
Receiving a handmade card overjoyed Cath said: “Is that for me? Thank you very much. Do I get a hug? Ahh thanks Lilly, thank you very much.”
Railway Security Man Phil Clegg recalls: “There was quite a few people that we couldn’t do anything for them, it was just their injuries were too bad for what we had.
"The first aid kit that I carry isn’t the most comprehensive, I had a tourniquet and a bandage, the amount of people that were injured obviously that doesn’t go very far, we ended up making makeshift tourniquets out of t-shirts off the merchandise stall.”
The show airs on Tuesday at 9pm on ITV.
The brave survivors: Victims reveal how they got back on their feet 100 days after Manchester terror attack
Lucy Jarvis
Lucy Jarvis, 17, was hit by shrapnel and suffered severe leg injuries in the attack.
The teenager was in theatre for 14 hours as surgeons battled to rebuild her legs.
She was in hospital for seven weeks, and is seen on the show learning to walk again.
Talking about her injuries, Lucy explained: “I have got a frame, a fixator on my ankle, the pins that go through my feet have to be changed and cleaned every week, so they come every week to change them which takes quite a while.
"They have to change my toe wound on my broken toe which is quite painful sometimes.”
Despite her battles to walk again, Lucy is trying to get back to normal.
She said: “I’m hoping to go back to college in September, so I’ll be able to see my friends again and do normal things like college work.”
Adam Lawler
Adam Lawler, 15, attended the Ariana Grande concert with his best friend of Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15.
Adam lost seven teeth in the attack which saw shrapnel fly through his jaw and cheek.
Bones in both legs were also shattered and he was in intensive care for a week after doctors removed more than 20 nuts and bolts from his body.
Now, after getting back on his feet, Adam is planning to walk Olivia’s mum down the aisle, as a tape of Olivia singing John Legend’s All Of Me plays.
Olivia’s mum Charlotte said of the wedding: “Olivia was determined it was going to be perfect. Even though it’s our wedding day, it’ll be for her.”
Adam added: “I want to live for Liv. I want to live for Olivia. She was gone too soon and I want to give back what’s been taken.”
Martin Hibbert
Martin Hibbert was left paralysed by the blast, while his daughter suffered a serious head injury.
Martin told the show’s cameras how first aiders thought his daughter was dead and covered her with a blanket.
Martin, who doesn’t want to name his daughter, explained: “Designated First Aid people were walking around.
They’d actually put a blanket over my daughter and I was like ‘no she’s still breathing.’”
He added: “I sustained 22 separate wounds or injuries, which were all either shrapnel or nuts and bolts.
"It was just that one bolt that’s gone through her head, why couldn’t I have made it 23?”
When Martin discovered he was permanently paralysed, he was just relieved his daughter wasn’t dead.
He said: “I didn’t cry. I wasn’t angry… My daughter was alive, I was alive.
"She’s going to be in hospital for a few more months but she is awake now and she can see and she can hear, she’s just started eating, its going to be small steps… it takes as long as it takes.”
On the show, Martin marks the attack with a Manchester bee tattoo.
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