Stephen Purvis and his son Cillian are home safe and well in Cork this evening but on Monday the safety of home seemed a million miles away.
Cillian, 16, was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, and although he has since been given the all clear, he was granted a wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to see Ariana Grande live in concert.
What's more Cillian was also invited to go to along to a once-in-a-lifetime meet and greet before the concert kicked off.
Stephen, his wife, Cillian and his friend who travelled with them, all met up with the other Make A Wish concert goers at the meet-and-greet and everyone had a brilliant time meeting their pop idol.
Then they all headed into the gig.
Stephen Purvis & son captured the last few minutes of Ariana Grande concert.
Both escaped without injury. He's talking to @cooper_m next. pic.twitter.com/asgVLASc3D
— Today FM (@todayfm) May 24, 2017
At around 10.30pm Cillian turned to Stephen as Ariana left the stage and said, "Well Dad did you enjoy the gig?"
As the words left his mouth a massive explosion could be heard reverberating through the stadium.
"You couldn't see the explosion but you could hear it, it was a massive bang," Stephen said, speaking with Matt Cooper on the Last Word.
"I knew in my heart and soul it was a bomb. My wife was just about to run and my son was jumping over the chairs to get out with his friend.
"But I grabbed them and said 'hold on, we need to see what's going on, we don't want to run towards another bomb.
"My biggest fear was that people would just come in and start shooting the crowd at random."
As Stephen looked around all he could see were young children and people running in every direction.
"There was just pandemonium in the stadium."
Stephen saw a steward and followed him, but Cillian and his friend got held back.
Stephen looked at the steward and mouthed "I'm not leaving without my kids," and then waited for all four people in their group to be lead to safety together.
Stephen then describes the harrowing scene that greeted them outside, "We were in the lobby, I could smell the smoke, people were racing past us, people were screaming, kids were lost and crying.
"We came down to the exit and I looked towards where the explosion went off.
"I looked down and saw people's belongings and there was blood everywhere.
"The last thing I saw as we went down the steps was a trail of blood just leading to a woman's pair of shoes."
The foursome then moved away from the stadium, putting as much distance between them and the venue as possible, moving through the back streets of a strange city, concentrating on staying together.
"My wife kept saying over and over 'I don't want to die here, I don't want to die here'."
"I just said we've got to stick together and get out and get home safe."
Stephen says the one memory that has remained with him is the image of one of the victims, a 16 year old girl, who was killed that night.
They recognised her because she had also been at the Make A Wish meet-and-greet before the gig, sharing what should have been a magical experience with the rest of the group, but one that ended in devastation and the deaths of 22 innocent people.
