A STORY OF HOPE AND JOY
A story of hope and joy
Sandy Smith is living proof that love conquers all.
The 23-year-old has been to hell and back since the Omagh bombing, which killed 29.
She suffered horrible injuries when the car bomb exploded just feet from where she stood with her friend, Julia Hughes.
Now from the horror of that awful day last August comes a story of hope and joy, as Sandy announces that she is to marry in June. Fiance Mark Blackwell, who helped her through the darkest days of her young life, got down on bended knee to ask for her hand.
Their story is all the more moving because Sandy and Mark had met just once before the atrocity... during a holiday in Devon.
The young couple are set to prove that good can, indeed, emerge from evil.
Their story is heading for a happy ending.
But not all the victims of Omagh, or the countless atrocities which went before it, can say the same. Terrorism has shattered lives and destroyed families and communities.
It is a cancer that we have now, hopefully, put behind us.
But that can never be said of the victims and their loved ones.
Their pain continues and will do so for a long time to come.
Sandy still bears the physical and mental scars from that awful day.
But she forgives those who carried out the dastardly deed.
With such Christian charity, she and Mark deserve a happy future as man and wife.
That's what we sincerely wish them this morning.
Sandy Smith is living proof that love conquers all.
The 23-year-old has been to hell and back since the Omagh bombing, which killed 29.
She suffered horrible injuries when the car bomb exploded just feet from where she stood with her friend, Julia Hughes.
Now from the horror of that awful day last August comes a story of hope and joy, as Sandy announces that she is to marry in June. Fiance Mark Blackwell, who helped her through the darkest days of her young life, got down on bended knee to ask for her hand.
Their story is all the more moving because Sandy and Mark had met just once before the atrocity... during a holiday in Devon.
The young couple are set to prove that good can, indeed, emerge from evil.
Their story is heading for a happy ending.
But not all the victims of Omagh, or the countless atrocities which went before it, can say the same. Terrorism has shattered lives and destroyed families and communities.
It is a cancer that we have now, hopefully, put behind us.
But that can never be said of the victims and their loved ones.
Their pain continues and will do so for a long time to come.
Sandy still bears the physical and mental scars from that awful day.
But she forgives those who carried out the dastardly deed.
With such Christian charity, she and Mark deserve a happy future as man and wife.
That's what we sincerely wish them this morning.
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/078
Published Date: 24-Jan-99
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