Extremist a**eholes may scar us but they will NEVER break our British spirit… together we are stronger
I did what millions of parents did last night.
I got home and hugged my children, kissed my husband and told them I love them.
Like millions of others, I cried yesterday morning.
Having spent the previous night living the #c**koffcancer spirit at the crack of dawn, I was being pumped full of chemo drugs at The Royal Marsden Hospital.
My usual pre-treatment panic was pushed aside, and as blood was being taken from me, I watched the reports of innocent blood being taken elsewhere.
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Children like mine, in fact, the same age as mine - as yours.
Kids with their entire lives ahead of them - a gift they will not see. It breaks my heart.
Sadly too many of us have experienced moments in our life where in a split second all we know crashes.
To this day, I have haunting memories of receiving a phone call from my aunt when I was 19.
Vicky my 17-year-old cousin had not returned home.
There had been a car incident in the next village and we knew it was her.
Despite my family being cut from the toughest cloth they could find, over the years there isn't a moment, a missed birthday, a friends wedding where you don't wonder what might have been.
The families will carry on, but the ripples will be far reaching and will last a lifetime. I know. It hurts.
Together we are stronger and can expose the extremist arseholes that may scar but never break our British spirit
Parents, siblings, extended family, best mates, NHS workers, school communities, those with luck was on their side, those who opened their hearts and services in support, the everyday heroes - this effects us all.
We should however praise ourselves about what Britain does best - the stuff that makes us proud to wave that Union Jack.
We put aside our differences and rally round a community to teach those who don't know how to put one foot in front of another right now - to stand strong again.
We will stand united in the coming days over our disgust of the callous and cowardly behaviour - and ensure we hunt these vile people down.
We must ensure that when the dust settles we do not forget that we are cut from the same cloth - we cry over the same things and with the exception of the brainwashed few.
All of us - Christians, atheists, Muslims, boys, girls, straight, gay, rich, poor - go running to help when it matters the most.
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We need to use this as a platform to continue at all levels to open our doors to educate one another.
It's not the time for sweeping generalisations, for racist hatred, pointing of blame and religious bashing.
Together we are stronger and can expose the extremist arseholes that may scar but never break our British spirit.
In my school yearbook, from when I was the same age as some of yesterday's victims - there is a poem regarding the value of time: "To realise the value of a second - ask the person who survived the accident".
Today there are many thousands of people who, like me, realise just how precious life is - and with that the true meaning of making every second count.
For those that will carry their scars from yesterday for many years to come - ALL of Britain is here to walk alongside you.
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