Andrew and Lisa Roussos: ‘My world fell apart’ | 14

How Do You Cope?

Wondery

Health & Fitness, Mental Health

5 • 695 Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How do you survive an unimaginable tragedy?

John sits down with Andrew and Lisa Roussos, parents to Saffie, the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena bombing. The attack not only took their youngest daughter, but also left Lisa with life changing injuries. Lisa remained in a coma for 6 weeks following the terrorist attack, and awoke to the news that Saffie had lost her life.

Andrew and Lisa then campaigned for transparency from the government and the intelligence services to find out what happened the night of the attack. Andrew tells John about the many hours he spent trying to track down Lisa and Saffie in the wake of the explosion, Lisa discusses the slow road to recovery and how they both chose to keep living.

On Thursday in our bonus episode The Gratitude List, Andrew and Lisa share the 5 things that they are currently grateful for.

You can send in your thoughts and reflections to [email protected], or follow the show on Instagram and TikTok @howdoyoucopepod.

If you need support, you can find advice and someone to talk to by visiting www.samaritans.org, emailing [email protected] or calling 116 123.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to episodes of How Do You Cope early and ad-free?
0:04.7	Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:09.2	This advert is brought to you by Macmillan Cancer Support, a registered charity.
0:14.1	If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, the Macmillan online community is here.
0:19.6	Macmillan's online community is open 24-7.
0:23.0	It's a free, safe space to connect with people who get what it's like to have cancer.
0:27.6	You can browse groups, ask questions to an expert, share your experience, or just see what
0:32.6	others have to say. On the online community, no question is too big, too small or too personal.
0:38.7	Their members have all been there too. Plus, it's completely anonymous.
0:42.9	Search McMillan online community today.
0:51.8	Hello, everyone. Just a quick warning before beginning this episode, because in it we discussed the Manchester Arena bombing, including descriptions of injury and death.
1:01.3	And there's also a discussion of suicide.
1:03.6	So if you need any support, there are links to resources in the show notes.
1:17.5	Hello and welcome to Howdy Cope with me, John Robbins. Life throws up all sorts of challenges for us all. So in this podcast, I'm sitting down with special people to ask them the
1:22.6	question, how do you cope? Because we all cope differently, and we can all learn from each other's experiences.
1:29.0	If you have enjoyed these podcasts, please do leave a review online, as it very much helps
1:33.6	spread the word of these remarkable conversations to others who will hopefully get a great
1:37.8	deal out of listening. Today, my guests are Andrew and Lisa Rousos. In In 2017 Lisa took her eldest daughter Ashley and her youngest daughter, 8-year-old Safi, to see her idol Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena. As the audience made their way out of the arena, a man named Salman Abedi detonated a bomb in the lobby of the venue.
2:02.1	This terrorist attack would claim the lives of 22 people, and Safi Rousos was the youngest.
2:08.7	Safi's father Andrew and her brother Zander were waiting to collect Lisa, Ashley and Safi when
2:13.8	they heard an explosion. They searched for them in the chaotic aftermath and found Ashley with injuries to her arms and legs.
2:21.3	Lisa suffered extremely serious injuries and spent six weeks in a coma and when she woke up she would learn that her daughter Safi had died.
	...

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