BLAST WILL STAY WITH ME FOR EVER, SAYS SCHOOLGIRL
BLAST WILL STAY WITH ME FOR EVER, SAYS SCHOOLGIRL
A YEAR after the Omagh bombing, Drumquin teenager, Wendy McCay, still cannot bring herself to visit the location where she and a close friend almost lost their lives.
Wendy , who is now 15, received limb injuries in the blast. Her good friend, Nora Spratt, who was standing beside her, sustained serious internal injuries and owes her life to the skill of surgeons at Enniskillen's Erne Hospital.
The two girls were standing not far from the car that contained the bomb. Had they been on the other side of the car, they probably would not have survived.
Wendy sustained a broken left arm, torn tendons in her left wrist, shrapnel injuries to her left leg and was peppered with flying glass.
She was taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald after the blast, and stayed there until the following Monday. Her arm was in plaster for seven weeks, and it took months of physiotherapy to recover use of her hand.
Doctors are well pleased with Wendy's recovery. Now the major external sign is a fading scar on her left forearm.
After the treatment for her physical injuries, Wendy received counselling from the trauma team at the Bridge Centre, and feels she benefited greatly from it.
But not a day goes by that she does not think of the blast.
"I think it will stay with me for ever. It is impossible to get away from it," she said.
To date she has never returned on foot to the bomb site.
"I hate going there. I will never walk up through there. Even going there in the car I still do not like it," she said.
Looking ahead, Wendy says she is unsure how she will feel even when the bomb site is rebuilt.
A week after the blast Wendy was one of the injured people who attended the memorial service in Omagh, though she was on strong painkillers. She has not yet made up her mind whether she will attend the first anniversary service.
"There has been so much talk about the anniversary, but I do not really know what I will do. I think I probably will come in for the service. If I do, I know it will not be easy," she said.
As a result of her experiences, Wendy has met a lot of people caught up in the blast people she might never otherwise have met.
"I think we have a common bond, a shared experience of coming through something.
"Some have suffered worse than others, but there is an awareness among us all that is quite strange," she added.
And she does not believe that anyone who was not injured or caught up in the blast truly understands what it has been like for those who were.
"People say they understand, but they do not really. They do not know what it was like so much as those who were there," she said.
Wendy says she is still sensitive to loud bangs.
"When Nora and I are together and there is a loud noise, such as a door banging, we just look at each other as if to say 'are you OK' You look out for "people because you know there is a sensitivity for those who were there."
Wendy lost three weeks of study at the start of last term, and had a lot of catching up to do.
She is a pupil of Omagh Academy, which had a number of pupils and past pupils killed or injured. There was a feeling of heightened awareness at the school, but everyone there was very nice to her, Wendy said.
A lot of work has been done for those injured in the blast. As part of the recovery process, the trauma centre has been organising trips.
Wendy was able to go on trip to Liverpool to see Everton play Manchester United, and also to see around Liverpool FC's Anfield Stadium, a visit which thrilled her younger sister, Shirley, who is a big Reds supporter.
"She is mad about them," said Wendy with a laugh.
Wendy is also a Liverpool supporter and hopes to get tickets for their visit to Omagh next month.
In a few weeks Wendy will go back to school for her GCSE year, and she hopes to get enough qualifications to pursue a career in medicine. That was always an ambition, and not just a result of the bomb, she says.
She is a daughter of Robert and Hazel McCay, and has two sisters, Shirley (12) and Lindsey (7).
And she is clear that the bomb has affected her future life as well.
"I just cannot see me wanting to live in Omagh. Maybe I will not move far away, but what happened will always have that influence on me," she said.
A YEAR after the Omagh bombing, Drumquin teenager, Wendy McCay, still cannot bring herself to visit the location where she and a close friend almost lost their lives.
Wendy , who is now 15, received limb injuries in the blast. Her good friend, Nora Spratt, who was standing beside her, sustained serious internal injuries and owes her life to the skill of surgeons at Enniskillen's Erne Hospital.
The two girls were standing not far from the car that contained the bomb. Had they been on the other side of the car, they probably would not have survived.
Wendy sustained a broken left arm, torn tendons in her left wrist, shrapnel injuries to her left leg and was peppered with flying glass.
She was taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald after the blast, and stayed there until the following Monday. Her arm was in plaster for seven weeks, and it took months of physiotherapy to recover use of her hand.
Doctors are well pleased with Wendy's recovery. Now the major external sign is a fading scar on her left forearm.
After the treatment for her physical injuries, Wendy received counselling from the trauma team at the Bridge Centre, and feels she benefited greatly from it.
But not a day goes by that she does not think of the blast.
"I think it will stay with me for ever. It is impossible to get away from it," she said.
To date she has never returned on foot to the bomb site.
"I hate going there. I will never walk up through there. Even going there in the car I still do not like it," she said.
Looking ahead, Wendy says she is unsure how she will feel even when the bomb site is rebuilt.
A week after the blast Wendy was one of the injured people who attended the memorial service in Omagh, though she was on strong painkillers. She has not yet made up her mind whether she will attend the first anniversary service.
"There has been so much talk about the anniversary, but I do not really know what I will do. I think I probably will come in for the service. If I do, I know it will not be easy," she said.
As a result of her experiences, Wendy has met a lot of people caught up in the blast people she might never otherwise have met.
"I think we have a common bond, a shared experience of coming through something.
"Some have suffered worse than others, but there is an awareness among us all that is quite strange," she added.
And she does not believe that anyone who was not injured or caught up in the blast truly understands what it has been like for those who were.
"People say they understand, but they do not really. They do not know what it was like so much as those who were there," she said.
Wendy says she is still sensitive to loud bangs.
"When Nora and I are together and there is a loud noise, such as a door banging, we just look at each other as if to say 'are you OK' You look out for "people because you know there is a sensitivity for those who were there."
Wendy lost three weeks of study at the start of last term, and had a lot of catching up to do.
She is a pupil of Omagh Academy, which had a number of pupils and past pupils killed or injured. There was a feeling of heightened awareness at the school, but everyone there was very nice to her, Wendy said.
A lot of work has been done for those injured in the blast. As part of the recovery process, the trauma centre has been organising trips.
Wendy was able to go on trip to Liverpool to see Everton play Manchester United, and also to see around Liverpool FC's Anfield Stadium, a visit which thrilled her younger sister, Shirley, who is a big Reds supporter.
"She is mad about them," said Wendy with a laugh.
Wendy is also a Liverpool supporter and hopes to get tickets for their visit to Omagh next month.
In a few weeks Wendy will go back to school for her GCSE year, and she hopes to get enough qualifications to pursue a career in medicine. That was always an ambition, and not just a result of the bomb, she says.
She is a daughter of Robert and Hazel McCay, and has two sisters, Shirley (12) and Lindsey (7).
And she is clear that the bomb has affected her future life as well.
"I just cannot see me wanting to live in Omagh. Maybe I will not move far away, but what happened will always have that influence on me," she said.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0709
Published Date: 12-Aug-99
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