Manchester blast victim thanks stranger who came to her rescue
A stranger who stopped to help a 14-year-old girl in the seconds after the Manchester Arena bombing has been hailed a hero as she was reunited with the teenager and her mum.
Jennifer Lee came to Ella McGovern's aid as concert-goers ran for their lives after the youngster was struck by last Monday's suicide blast, suffering shrapnel injuries to her leg.
The teen's perforated eardrums meant she couldn't hear her mum as she called home for help.
Although Jennifer said she was aware a second blast might be imminent, she said she "just wanted to help" the stranded girl, who days later put out a social media appeal to help find the young woman who came to her rescue and calmed her panicked mum Louise.
Ella, who has struggled to walk since the bombing, described her desperation as the three recounted the aftermath of the deadly blast on ITV's Good Morning Britain.
"At the time you've got loads of panic," she said. "It was really stressful to deal with."
Louise said she felt "extremely distressed" at home as she was unable to talk to her daughter in her time of need.
"I couldn't get to Ella. She couldn't hear me because her eardrums were perforated. It was a complete lack of communication," she said.
Ella said Jennifer "calmed me and my mum down" and helped arrange a place for them to meet, after putting in an emergency call for help.
Louise added: "To hear Jenny's voice down the phone to say, 'I'm with your daughter, she's fine, she's ok and I've called an ambulance' was amazing for me. It was an instant relief."
Jennifer said she had been reassured by her boyfriend's calmness, saying: "He relaxed me and reassured me."
Asked if she considered the risk to her own life with the potential threat of another blast, she said: "I guess I did but it wasn't a priority at that point. I just wanted to help Ella."
Jennifer insisted she did not act heroically though.
"There were so many people helping, all the emergency services, so many people who came together," she said.
But Louise insisted the family regarded her as a hero.
"Very much so - even though she's never thought that. She genuinely is," she said.