The mother of a homeless man, who cradled a dying woman in his arms in the aftermath of the Manchester bombing, has appealed for her son to contact her.
Chris Parker was in the foyer of the Manchester Arena, where he regularly goes to beg for money as crowds leave the venue, when the blast hit.
Parker tended to a little girl who had lost her legs and a woman aged in her 60s who died in his arms.
Now his estranged mother Jessica Parker has appealed for her son to reach out to her, after the pair lost contact a few years ago.
She told MEN: “When I heard the story about what he had done and how brave he had been, I was floored. I was so proud.
“I thought ‘that’s my boy’. I just want to talk to him – and I want to meet up with him. He’s fallen on hard times, but he has a heart of gold. I’m so proud of how brave he was trying to help people.”
Chris said he heard a “bang” and then saw a “white flash, then smoke”. He then heard people screaming.
“It knocked me to the floor and then I got up and instead of running away my gut instinct was to run back and try and help,” he told the Press Association.
“There was people lying on the floor everywhere.
“I saw a little girl ... she had no legs. I wrapped her in one of the merchandise T-shirts and I said ‘where is your mum and daddy?’ She said ‘my dad is at work, my mum is up there’.”
He added: “[The woman] passed away in my arms. She was in her 60s and said she had been with her family.
“I haven’t stopped crying.
“The most shocking part of it is that it was a kids’ concert.”
Jessica used to live in Walkden in Salford with Chris and her other son before moving to Norfolk.
Speaking to the Eastern Daily Press, she added: “He was knocked down in the blast and he so easily could have died – I realised that if that had happened I might never have known about it, which has really upset me the most.
“I am so proud of him but I am so sad for what he’s had to see and go through.”
A crowd funder started by Michael Johns has raised more than £44,000 for Chris so far.
Johns has contacted Chris and said on Thursday: “We spoke to Chris earlier. He expressed a lot of gratitude towards you all.”