Olivia Homer was 12 years old when she and her mum, Lizzie, were injured in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017 that killed 22 people. Now 21, Olivia has spoken to the Manchester Evening News about the horrifying moment the bomb went off just 10 metres behind them.
At 10.31pm on May 22, 2017, an explosion tore through Manchester Arena as thousands of fans left an Ariana Grande concert. Salman Abedi was named as the suicide bomber, killing 22 people with more than 800 others suffering physical or psychological injuries.
Just after the concert ended, a smiling Olivia and her mum walked through the foyer along with hundreds of other young music fans. As they made their way to the busy exit, Abedi detonated the improvised bomb packed with nuts and screws in the large backpack he was carrying just 10 metres behind them.
'A massive white flash and then a really loud bang'
Olivia described the moment: "First it was like a massive white flash and then a really loud bang; deafening. You know when you see in the films where it makes the ears ring, that's what happens in real life."
"Straight away, me and my mum, the blast hit us over, and we fell on the floor. Everyone started screaming. I turned around, and there was blood everywhere, smoke, people on the floor. I was just confused because it all happened so quickly, within like three seconds."
Olivia remembers realising she was in pain, adding: "Everyone was just running. My mum dragged me up off the floor, and then we just started running. My mum was screaming, saying it was a bomb. She knew what it was straight away."
Lizzie, now 41, remembers walking alongside her daughter two minutes before the detonation, recording a video for social media. She recalls a flash and a deafening explosion, followed by small pieces of the arena falling around her. "I didn't initially think we'd been hit by anything," she said. "I think because of the adrenaline I didn't feel anything."
In reality, both were injured by shrapnel. Olivia was hit in the back by a metal bolt from the bomb, which she describes as feeling like being "shot" by a bullet. She also suffered a smaller wound to the top of her leg. Lizzie suffered a deep shrapnel wound to the bottom of her leg from shrapnel that ripped through her jeans and her shoe, plus damage to her backside from flying metal fragments.
'We just ran as fast as we could'
Immediately after, Lizzie's maternal instinct kicked in as she dragged her daughter to her feet and they began to run. "We just ran as fast as we could to get out of there," she said. "We didn't know we had holes all over us."
Managing to get out of the building, Olivia remembers panic-stricken concertgoers "banging on the taxis outside". They got into one cab with three other girls who had also been there. It wasn't until they arrived home in Manchester that they took notice of their injuries, as the adrenaline faded.
"We got in and then we were non-stop bleeding," Olivia said. "My mum looked at my back and was like, 'Oh my God, we need to go.' And then we saw my mum's injuries, her jeans were all ripped with a massive hole."
Lizzie and Olivia made their way to Tameside Hospital, knowing city centre hospitals would be busy. It was then that police told them they had been hit by a nail bomb. They were told that because Abedi turned around and aimed his backpack towards the doors away from them at the last minute, they avoided even more serious injuries or death.
"We were really lucky. We were very, very lucky," Lizzie says.
Recovery and a return to Ariana Grande
Olivia stayed in hospital for 48 hours after having a metal bolt removed from her back. The hole in Lizzie's leg left her bedbound for a while. In the weeks and months that followed, panic attacks resulted in Olivia missing much of her school time, eventually leading to a diagnosis of PTSD and years of therapy.
For Lizzie, a Special Educational Needs (SEN) practitioner, her way of coping was to get back to work. "I actually went back to work after two weeks," she said. "I'm one of them. I like to keep busy. If I sit, then I'll think about it. When I was at home, I was just crying all the time. So even when I went back to work, because I still had the hole, they used to send me home to change because my leg would be dripping, and it wouldn't heal."
Nearly ten years on, in July, both Lizzie and Olivia attended an Ariana Grande concert in London as part of a group of survivors invited by the US singer. "It was just a weird feeling, but we went with a big group of people who were also there that night, so we were all kind of there for each other. It was nice," Olivia said.
Olivia explains that for years after the attack, the effects of PTSD led to her dropping out of college, where she was studying criminology. However, she has since retrained and, three months ago, started her career in the aesthetics and beauty industry, opening her own small business in a salon in Manchester city centre.
Olivia says she feels "incredibly proud" that despite missing parts of her education and struggling with anxiety, she's managed to achieve something she once thought impossible. She hopes other young people who have experienced trauma or struggled in education will understand that "missing out on opportunities earlier in life doesn't mean you can't create your own opportunities later."
Olivia, now a mum to a two-year-old daughter, also feels that through therapy, time, and the support of her mum, she's been able to overcome the anxiety and trauma. "When it first happened, I was so anxious," she said. "I wasn't really sociable, wasn't really talking to anyone, I just wanted to stay in the house. Versus now, obviously, with this job as well, you're meeting loads of new people every day and talking to them. It's a very sociable job, and I feel like I've just changed so much."
Recently, Olivia learned she had made one of the highest ranked finalists out of thousands of entrants for her aesthetics work. The awards ceremony took place at the AO Arena in Manchester, but she was away in London at the Ariana Grande concert and couldn't attend.
For Lizzie, it's the daughter she pulled up off the floor that day, and who cried with her at the concert in London last month, who she now says is her greatest source of support. "It's weird because she's the only other person who knows what went on and what happened," Lizzie said. "Because she was with me."
Hashem Abedi, brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi, was jailed for a minimum of 55 years in 2020 for helping his brother plan the attack, where 22 innocent people were murdered.
