I survived the Manchester Arena bombing but didn’t think I deserved help

I looked out into the crowd and saw thousands of hopeful faces staring back at us.

I was on stage as part of the Manchester Survivors Choir during the city’s Manchester Together – With One Voice event, marking the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on 22 May 2017.

But as soon as we started singing Andra Day’s Rise Up, my 11-year-old son, Jake, walked over to me with tears in his eyes. He was overcome with emotion and couldn’t face the performance alone.