'Writing was therapy' for Manchester bomb survivor

A girl who lost her best friend in the Manchester terror attack said writing was "my main form of therapy".

Freya Lewis, 17, was badly hurt in the attack three years ago, which killed 22 people including her friend Nell Jones.

Telling BBC Radio 5 live about her road to recovery, Freya said she has kept a lipstick, which Nell was the last to use, because it is "too special".

She said it was "such a relief to get everything off my shoulders" by writing her book, What Makes Us Stronger.

Freya, from Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, was in a wheelchair for three months following the attack on 22 May 2017.

She has no recollection of being admitted to hospital after the attack, which left her with multiple injuries, fractures and burns.

The teenager told presenter Nihal Arthanayake that her parents helped her "focus on the positive side of things".

"In the early weeks of being in hospital I was overwhelmed with the feeling of intense guilt that I survived and Nell didn't - they got me through that".

"If it wasn't for them making me laugh again, making me have their awful dark humour, I wouldn't ever have been happy again," she said.

She recalled how she "just clicked" with Nell because "we were so alike... we both loved drama, makeup, music".

She said when police returned her belongings after the attack, they included the lipstick and a jacket she wore on the night.

"The lipstick was last used by Nell so that stands on the top of all my makeup and I've not used it since because I feel like it's too special," she said.

"The jacket still has little tears and rips in it from 22 May but I love it because it reminds me of what I went through."

Finding the loss of Nell hard during her recovery in hospital, Freya said she bonded with one of her nurses, Jenny, who "pulled up a chair and said 'tell me all about her'".

"I probably talked to her for two hours... she was taking care of me mentally as well as physically."

She said she was thankful to the NHS that "simply saved my life" and gave "the most amazing care" to her family while she was in an induced coma.

Freya has now raised £60,000 for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital where she was treated.

She said she can mark "the first day I was happy again" following the attack - when Ariana Grande shared an "emotional moment with me" while visiting her on the ward.

"She cried with me, laughed with me and inspired me... she gave me her fighting spirit."

Describing how the attack has changed her, Freya said: "I've taken a more impulsive attitude to life.

"I just think me and my family have learnt to live more."