HEALING PROCESS GOES ON FOR BLAST VICTIMS
Healing process goes on for blast victims
By EMMA FLYNN
OMAGH teenager Lee-ann Drumm is one of the many young people trying to come to terms with the blast which devastated her home town last August.
The 19-year-old youth leader is one of 11 young people from Omagh who is travelling to the United States as part of the Spirit of Enniskillen Trust which she hopes will help in her recovery and help her to understand what lies behind diversity between communities.
Lee-ann vividly recalls the day she was shopping with her cousin when she became caught up in the bomb which killed 29 people and injured hundreds of others.
She had just said hello to her friend Geraldine Breslin minutes before they found themselves near a shoe shop.
They had been watching some Spanish people in the street singing.
The next thing Lee-ann found herself on the ground covered in blood and not being able to hear.
She saw metal in her leg but felt no pain. Her eardrums had burst. Her cousin would be later treated for metal in her head and shrapnel in her arms.
Geraldine, several workers in the shoe shop and a Spanish teacher were among the dead.
Lee-ann said: "I didn't know what had happened. I found myself blown to the ground and was covered in other people's blood and my own, my clothes were ripped, my hair was singed.
"My dad worked in a shop nearby and came to find me and brought me to hospital.
"I can still see the bodies lying everywhere. After I was treated in hospital I will never forget the sight at Omagh County Hospital. The corridor was full of bodies, dead, some little boys with limbs off, someone had no leg, another had no arm.
"As I walked out of the hospital a car pulled up. A policewoman and a traffic warden ran towards me carrying a baby and gave it to me saying 'someone please bring the baby inside'."
The blood-covered baby Lee-ann carried was not breathing. She later found out it was Breda Devine.
One of these experiences would be enough to traumatise anyone. Lee-ann still attends a counsellor, a necessary part of her healing process, she explains.
She said: "There was a time I could not talk about my experiences.
"Now it is getting easier. Everyone has been affected in some way in Omagh and it will take time."
Lee-ann, who is a youth leader in Omagh Youth Centre and studying health and social care, hopes the cross-community trip will help in her recovery.
She is glad that the people in her group are all from Omagh. "There is a sense that everyone will understand each other and find it easier to talk about their experiences. There is a level of understanding," she said.
"I want to give my experience of the Omagh bomb to others. I want to know how communities live together in other countries, and bring that back to Omagh," she said.
Conor Keys, 17, a youth leader, at Omagh Boys and Girls' Youth Club who is going on the same trip, said he had tried to focus on positive aspects since the bomb.
Conor, a second cousin of Donna-Marie Keys, who suffered horrific facial injuries from the blast and who was recently married, said: "I can't take back what happened to everyone. I want to show the people who did this that we are strong. We need to rebuild and will battle back not by bricks but by our spirits.
"It has been unbelievable how Omagh has pulled together since the bomb," said the A-level student.
"I want to see how other communities pull together. There are 44 different cultures where we are staying and they manage to live together," said Conor, who hopes to tell his youth group about his experiences in the States.
By EMMA FLYNN
OMAGH teenager Lee-ann Drumm is one of the many young people trying to come to terms with the blast which devastated her home town last August.
The 19-year-old youth leader is one of 11 young people from Omagh who is travelling to the United States as part of the Spirit of Enniskillen Trust which she hopes will help in her recovery and help her to understand what lies behind diversity between communities.
Lee-ann vividly recalls the day she was shopping with her cousin when she became caught up in the bomb which killed 29 people and injured hundreds of others.
She had just said hello to her friend Geraldine Breslin minutes before they found themselves near a shoe shop.
They had been watching some Spanish people in the street singing.
The next thing Lee-ann found herself on the ground covered in blood and not being able to hear.
She saw metal in her leg but felt no pain. Her eardrums had burst. Her cousin would be later treated for metal in her head and shrapnel in her arms.
Geraldine, several workers in the shoe shop and a Spanish teacher were among the dead.
Lee-ann said: "I didn't know what had happened. I found myself blown to the ground and was covered in other people's blood and my own, my clothes were ripped, my hair was singed.
"My dad worked in a shop nearby and came to find me and brought me to hospital.
"I can still see the bodies lying everywhere. After I was treated in hospital I will never forget the sight at Omagh County Hospital. The corridor was full of bodies, dead, some little boys with limbs off, someone had no leg, another had no arm.
"As I walked out of the hospital a car pulled up. A policewoman and a traffic warden ran towards me carrying a baby and gave it to me saying 'someone please bring the baby inside'."
The blood-covered baby Lee-ann carried was not breathing. She later found out it was Breda Devine.
One of these experiences would be enough to traumatise anyone. Lee-ann still attends a counsellor, a necessary part of her healing process, she explains.
She said: "There was a time I could not talk about my experiences.
"Now it is getting easier. Everyone has been affected in some way in Omagh and it will take time."
Lee-ann, who is a youth leader in Omagh Youth Centre and studying health and social care, hopes the cross-community trip will help in her recovery.
She is glad that the people in her group are all from Omagh. "There is a sense that everyone will understand each other and find it easier to talk about their experiences. There is a level of understanding," she said.
"I want to give my experience of the Omagh bomb to others. I want to know how communities live together in other countries, and bring that back to Omagh," she said.
Conor Keys, 17, a youth leader, at Omagh Boys and Girls' Youth Club who is going on the same trip, said he had tried to focus on positive aspects since the bomb.
Conor, a second cousin of Donna-Marie Keys, who suffered horrific facial injuries from the blast and who was recently married, said: "I can't take back what happened to everyone. I want to show the people who did this that we are strong. We need to rebuild and will battle back not by bricks but by our spirits.
"It has been unbelievable how Omagh has pulled together since the bomb," said the A-level student.
"I want to see how other communities pull together. There are 44 different cultures where we are staying and they manage to live together," said Conor, who hopes to tell his youth group about his experiences in the States.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/217
Published Date: 23-Jun-99
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