THE grief-stricken brother of one of the victims of the Manchester suicide bomber says his anger at the terrorist has been “overshadowed a million times” by the tremendous support his family have received.
Dan Hett said they had been “swamped” by flowers, chocolates and teddies and “tens of thousands of messages” from people shocked by the death of his brother Martyn.
He praised the emergency services who helped in their “surreal” wait to find out if the 29-year-old PR manager had been killed.
His family knew he had gone to the Ariana Grande gig at the Manchester Arena on Monday night but were not sure if he had been caught up in the attack.
Along with the families of other missing people they were taken to the Etihad Stadium where police told them it could be hours before they heard any news.
Deciding to wait at home they were headed for the car park when they were called back.
“That’s when we knew,” said Dan. “Martyn had ID on him. In a way we were lucky — others had to wait much longer to find out.”
Describing the emergency services as “astonishing”, Dan said the family could not have gotten through the next few hours without the “incredible” comfort that they received from officers.
“They’ve been completely transparent with us when they were carrying out an unimaginable task,” he said.
“I’ve also been thinking about those in the Arena right this second recovering evidence, debris and bodies.
“As a family — and I’m sure the other families would agree — as hard as it’s been, we’ve understood fully the enormity of what the city is trying to recover from.”
He added: “Everyone has been so supportive — right down to the little things. The spirit of generosity has been unreal.”
Dan said that on behalf of his family he wanted to express a “heartfelt” thanks to everyone who had reached out to them.
“The more you think about it, the more humbling it is. Whatever walk of life people are in they have reached out and helped every way that they can. And the fundraising has been amazing.”
He added: “The scale of support even before we found out Martyn had died was incredible. The traders on the street my mum lives on in Heaton Moor shut their shops for the minute’s silence and came out, so they were with us.
“I’ve been asked if I’m angry at the terrorist and this one act of atrocity. I guess in time I’m going to have anger but at the moment that has been overshadowed a million times by everything else that’s transpired.
“From that one act of aggression there have been a million acts of kindness from every person in Manchester. That’s where the focus is now, that’s where we’re getting our strength from, that’s what’s getting us through.”
Paying tribute to his brother, Dan added: “I hate going into cliches but Martyn just had this completely unstoppable lust for life, it was unbelievable. He was the most memorable character you could conceive of.”
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