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Andrew Devine suffered horrendous injuries at Hillsborough – his chest was crushed and his brain deprived of oxygen – and wasn’t expected to survive the day.

Having made it through the first crucial 24 hours, his mum and dad were warned he would probably be dead within six months.

Later still, they were told nobody who had suffered such injuries had survived beyond eight years.

Today, 25 years on, Andrew, is attending his first Hillsborough memorial service at Anfield – and is living proof of the power of unbreakable, unbeatable and unconditional love.

On April 15, 1989, the devoted Liverpool FC fan, from Mossley Hill , was a carefree 22-year-old.

On April 15, 2014, the now 47-year-old remains confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak and able to eat only puréed food – though, despite having seen more than his fair share of hospital wards, he lives in the family home with his devoted parents.

His dad, retired police inspector Stanley, 74, mum Hilary, 72, sisters Wendy, 44, Julie, 40, Gill, 32, and brother Graham, 36, could be forgiven for being overcome by sadness and consumed with bitterness and anger.

But speaking to the ECHO for the first time, and on behalf of the family, Wendy and Graham stress this wouldn’t do Andrew any good.

Sitting in her home in Halewood, Wendy says: “There have been a lot of tears over the years, but we are lucky. Andrew survived, he is living at home with his mum and dad – and with 24-hour professional care – and is loved and cared for by his family. He is the centre of the family and the glue which holds us together.

“We are a tremendously close family and Andrew is a big part of that. A lot of families break apart, with family members living and working in different parts of the country, but we’ve remained together for Andrew. And family feuds are not an option for our family, because we have something far more important to do – be there for Andrew, the most important member of the family.”

Graham adds: “It’s not just day to day life, it’s everything – Christmas arrangements for example. Everything is geared towards Andrew.”

They also dismiss any idea of Andrew having been “forgotten” outside the family, with Wendy stressing: “He’s not been forgotten. It’s just that people don’t know, and part of that is because mum and dad decided to stay away from the Press. To say he’s forgotten sounds bitter, and we’re not.”

And on the 25th anniversary of the disaster, she adds: “Our hearts always go out to those families who lost loved ones and we have always supported them – and we’re so glad that Andrew will be with us at this year’s memorial service, because it’s important to show that support.”

Wendy and Graham say they are lucky, but so is Andrew – lucky to be part of such a warm, caring, devoted and loving family.

Andrew has had two very different lives _ before and after Hillsborough.

Graham, 11 years his junior, recalls: “Because he was the oldest, he was kind of in charge of the rest of us, after mum and dad. He loved his football and was an avid Red who followed them around Europe. And he also loved going fishing.”

Wendy, just three years younger, adds: “He had a big gang of mates and was very popular – he went to Dovedale Primary in Mossley Hill and the Blue Coat School. He was very much the outdoor type and would spend time with friends on a canal boat and riding his bike. He had a girlfriend and I think he would definitely have wanted kids. He was great with kids and still is.”

Graham says: “He’s a lot older than me and Gill but always played with us. We were really close.”

Andrew worked for Post Office Counters, but was training in accountancy with the aim of moving into that line of work.

And recalling the night before Hillsborough, Wendy says: “I was 19 and moved in the same social circles as Andrew but we hadn’t seen a lot of each other in the weeks leading up to the game.

“But the night before he came in as I was about to go to bed and we ended up having a really good catch-up. I have always been very grateful for that.”

Regarding the next morning, Graham says: “I remember him winding me up! I’d started getting into football two or three years earlier and Andrew had taken me to the Alan Hansen testimonial game the previous year. We were having a bit of banter and I was saying ‘Can you get me a ticket?’ He told me to go and make him a cup of tea!”

Andrew had been at Hillsborough for the 1988 semi-final, while he was also at Heysel – so Wendy says the family already had experience of ringing an emergency helpline.

“I told my mum ‘You know we won’t be able to get through’,” recalls Wendy. “But, unlike some families, we were fortunate to get some information early, about 6 or 7pm. A friend of dad’s – a sergeant who was on duty in Liverpool – came round to the house.”

Mr Devine then rang a number in Sheffield and after asking about his son was told: “If you don’t come shortly you won’t see him alive.”

Wendy says: “It’s difficult not knowing what happened to Andrew. We were once told he had been taken onto the pitch but it turned out he had been taken to the back of the ground.”

On hearing their son had received very serious crush injuries and wasn’t expected to survive the day, Andrew’s parents went straight to Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital – and were there for the next six weeks, as Andrew, who was on a life support machine in intensive care, defied all the odds.

He was later transferred to Walton Hospital and then the young disabled unit at Fazakerley Hospital, while he also had spells at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in Putney, London. Throughout all this, family members were always by his side.

After about two years, Andrew was able to be cared for at home, although there would still be times when he had to go into hospital.

“Everything has just evolved,” explains Wendy. “At first, it was hour by hour and then it was day by day. I initially thought things were black and white – that Andrew was going to die or wake up and be OK. We thought he might be in a wheelchair but somehow didn’t envisage him being like he is now.

“He was in a deep coma at first but his eyes opened after a few months. Everything has been such a gradual process. He is conscious. He sleeps and wakes and though we can’t have a full knowledge of his level of understanding because he can’t communicate verbally, we so often know when he is happy or unhappy. And he is able to eat puréed food – which he hadn’t been for a few years, during which time mum and dad were told he had no swallow reflex and would choke if they tried to feed him.

“Andrew has made tremendous progress and his ongoing treatment includes physio and spending time in a hydrotherapy pool and a sensory room. Mum and dad have been absolutely fantastic. They have shown how strong and loving they are as parents. They have fought for Andrew all the way, while always having time for the rest of us.”

Graham adds: “They have never wallowed, which would have been so easy. Getting Andrew home was a huge thing and they fought so hard to do that.”

Looking ahead, Wendy says: “Andrew is totally immobile and to keep a totally immobile man in his late 40s healthy is no mean feat.

“The priority now is to keep him healthy and give him the best possible quality of life – and he does have a good life, which includes spending time in a caravan in North Wales, while we are able to take him to a few Liverpool games early and late in the season when the weather is good.”

And today, Andrew is an uncle, with his four nephews and two nieces being Georgia, 16 (who last year spearheaded her school form’s charity campaign to raise money for the Hillsborough Family Support Group), Alex, 13, Fraser, 11, Christopher, seven, Freya, two and Dylan, two – and Graham says: “When the young ones climb all over Andrew, his arms relax so we know he enjoys that part of family life.”

Hillsborough has taken so much from the Devine family – it took a healthy son and brother. But Andrew Devine survived, and continues to enjoy the best possible quality of life – thanks to his incredible parents, sisters, brother, extended family and a brilliant supporting cast.

All he needs is love, and he will never be short of that.

View our Hillsborough archive here