Parents of Manchester attack victim say they are getting married in her honour
Olivia Campbell's parents say she had always wanted them to tie the knot
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Your support makes all the difference.The parents of a Manchester attack victim have announced they are getting married, saying it is something their daughter had always wanted.
Olivia Campbell, 15, was one of the 22 people killed in the terror attack at Manchester Arena on Monday last week as people were leaving an Ariana Grande concert.
Salman Abedi walked into the foyer of the concert where parents were waiting collect concert goers, who were predominantly children, and detonated a homemade nail bomb.
Olivia’s mother Charlotte Campbell and stepfather Paul Hodgson appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday to pay tribute to their daughter, who they wanted to be “the face of Manchester”.
They announced they had got engaged since the attack in honour of their daughter.
"She always wanted us to get married. So, in her memory, we’ve said that we will go and get married,” Ms Campbell said.
They said it was important to speak out because they did not want her to be only remembered as a victim.
Mr Hodgson said: “I want Olivia to be the face of Manchester – someone has to be the face, why not a 15-year-old who was tragically taken through this, to stand up and tell people that we’re sticking together and that we can beat this.”
The couple have not yet organised a funeral for their daughter but said they intended to make it a celebration of her life.
Ms Campbell said: “It will be a celebration – it will not be a mourning. I will give my daughter the best send-off I can. I can’t give her a 16th, a 18th, so I’m going to put all of that into her send-off.”
“I don’t want her to be a victim of this. To be quiet and sit there, I would feel like she’s just a victim. But by telling everyone what she was really like, she’s now not a victim."
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