WE FOUND LOVE AFTER CARNAGE OF OMAGH
WE FOUND LOVE AFTER CARNAGE OF OMAGH
BY STEPHANIE BELL
THE POWER of love has given a Omagh bomb victim the will to live.
Now brave bride-to-be Sandy Smith wants others to take heart from the joy she found during the blackest days of her life.
The 23-year-old is looking forward to future with her fiance, Mark Blackwell who proposed to her on bended knee in the intensive care unit of the Erne Hospital. Their love for each other blossomed in the aftermath of the bomb as Mark, who is from England, maintained a round-the-clock vigil at Sandy's hospital bedside. His gentle words of encouragement and devotion soon had the gravely-ill Sandy willing herself better.
Remarkable
Their heart-warming story is all the more remarkable, because the young couple had only met once before the bomb.
Mark, 31, from England, met Sandy when she holidayed in Devon last June.
When she returned home to Omagh, they kept in touch by talking to each other every day on the phone.
Just 24 hours after Mark heard about the carnage in Omagh, he was on his way to Ulster.
"I'd never been to Northern Ireland, but I just had to get to Sandy," he said.
"I grabbed one change of clothes, and my friends lent me the money between them.
"I only intended staying for two weeks at the most.
"But I realised I loved Sandy so much that I couldn't leave her. I've been here ever since."
Now the young couple are making plans for a June 25 wedding, in Mark's hometown of Lancaster � a year after they first met.
This week is the first time Sandy has felt strong enough to talk about the bomb.
She said: "I hope our story might encourage other bomb victims, and lift their spirits.
"It shows that love can conquer evil and that, with the courage and the will to live, you can have a new future "
Added Mark: "For us, what seemed to be the end was really the beginning. God has helped us to turn things around for our good.
Faith "Sandy and I both have great faith in God. When I was on the boat to Belfast, God put a verse in my head which, to me, sums up what has happened to us.
"It is Romans 8, verse 28, 'All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose'.
"It made me realise that God is still 'a lot bigger than everything that had happened, and that he was working for our good."
BY STEPHANIE BELL
THE POWER of love has given a Omagh bomb victim the will to live.
Now brave bride-to-be Sandy Smith wants others to take heart from the joy she found during the blackest days of her life.
The 23-year-old is looking forward to future with her fiance, Mark Blackwell who proposed to her on bended knee in the intensive care unit of the Erne Hospital. Their love for each other blossomed in the aftermath of the bomb as Mark, who is from England, maintained a round-the-clock vigil at Sandy's hospital bedside. His gentle words of encouragement and devotion soon had the gravely-ill Sandy willing herself better.
Remarkable
Their heart-warming story is all the more remarkable, because the young couple had only met once before the bomb.
Mark, 31, from England, met Sandy when she holidayed in Devon last June.
When she returned home to Omagh, they kept in touch by talking to each other every day on the phone.
Just 24 hours after Mark heard about the carnage in Omagh, he was on his way to Ulster.
"I'd never been to Northern Ireland, but I just had to get to Sandy," he said.
"I grabbed one change of clothes, and my friends lent me the money between them.
"I only intended staying for two weeks at the most.
"But I realised I loved Sandy so much that I couldn't leave her. I've been here ever since."
Now the young couple are making plans for a June 25 wedding, in Mark's hometown of Lancaster � a year after they first met.
This week is the first time Sandy has felt strong enough to talk about the bomb.
She said: "I hope our story might encourage other bomb victims, and lift their spirits.
"It shows that love can conquer evil and that, with the courage and the will to live, you can have a new future "
Added Mark: "For us, what seemed to be the end was really the beginning. God has helped us to turn things around for our good.
Faith "Sandy and I both have great faith in God. When I was on the boat to Belfast, God put a verse in my head which, to me, sums up what has happened to us.
"It is Romans 8, verse 28, 'All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose'.
"It made me realise that God is still 'a lot bigger than everything that had happened, and that he was working for our good."
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/072
Published Date: 24-Jan-99
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