Manchester Arena atrocity - a story of hope amid great suffering

It was inside the tan bag Freya, then 14, was carrying when the terrorist bomb which killed 22 people went off metres from where she was standing.

Arm in arm, the friends had left the concert on May 22, 2017, a little early to avoid the crowds and were walking through the foyer to meet Freya’s dad, Nick, when she noticed a man dressed in black, with glasses, a baseball cap and a backpack.

“Nell went to put her drink cup in the bin, and I got out my phone to text my dad that I was on my way. As I was doing that, I looked up and saw a guy that I thought was a bit strange.

“He was motionless and seemed spaced out and I thought it was a bit odd, but didn’t think anything of it.”

She had just walked past him when he detonated the bomb, which caused Freya’s devastating injuries. Her left arm was shattered, barely hanging on to her body from her shoulder, both legs were broken and she had multiple shrapnel wounds, facial injuries and burns.

The drawstring plastic bag which held the Ariana Grande T-shirt she’d bought at the event had melted into the back of her head.

She attempted to stand up. “But then I realised everything was wrong and I felt blood all over me and there were people screaming and running. All the lights had blacked out. I was asking people to help me but everyone was in shock.”

A couple came to her rescue, keeping her talking until help arrived.

“They took me in their arms as I collapsed on to them, kept me alive, kept me talking, stopped the bleeding. They saved me.”

Her father, who had been waiting near the station, found Freya about an hour later, by which time she was being seen by paramedics.

“They labelled each casualty on a scale from one to 10, one being the most urgent to get to hospital - I was a number one, and probably one of the first to get in an ambulance.

“I remember asking my dad where Nell was - he didn’t know - and asking if Ariana was okay. When I was in that ambulance on May 22, I was sure I was going to die.”

Freya suffered 29 separate injuries. After a gruelling 10-and-a-half hours of surgery, she was put into an induced coma for five days.

“Surgeons removed bits of mouth bone from her stomach. Shrapnel was removed from her left eye, which was only saved by the fact she was wearing contact lenses.

“When I came round I couldn’t move.

“ But when I saw my dad, everything came rushing back to me that something had happened and that’s when I asked him, ‘Where’s Nell?’”

It was then she was told her best friend had died. It is this, more than the injuries, that she has had the most trouble coming to terms with.

“The bad days are triggered by something that reminds me of Nell, whether I’m in a shop where there’s make-up or when we drive past a place where we went together,” Freya, now 17, reflects.

She has now written What Makes Us Stronger, with the help of a ghostwriter - a candid account of the terrorist attack and the effect it has had on her life. It is dedicated to Nell.

“Writing a book was my main form of therapy. It helped me process it all.”

What Makes Us Stronger by Freya Lewis is published by Seven Dials, priced £14.99. Available now.