Brussels Bombing Victim's Heart Was in Michigan After Attacks

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As a photograph of him lying in a pool of his own blood circled the globe Tuesday after the horrific Brussels terror attacks, former Oakland University basketball star Sebastien “Seb” Bellin worried about his wife and two young daughters, ages 4 and 7, back home in Michigan.

Bellin, 37, was about to board a plane for the United States and was at the ticket counter at the Brussels Airport, and was standing about 100 yards from the location of one of the bombs that detonated in Belgium's worst terror attack in history.

At least 11 people were killed at the airport. Together, the ISIS attacks on the airport and subway systems killed at least 34 and injured scores more.

Speaking with ABC’s David Muir in an interview released on “Good Morning America” Thursday, Bellin, 37, said he told himself: “You’re going to make it, you’re going to make it, you’re going to make it.”

It wasn’t until he was in an ambulance that he believed it was true, he said.

In the worst moments following the blasts that threw him about 65 feet and riddled his legs and hips with shrapnel, Bellin said thoughts of his family kept him alive.

“I just didn’t want my girls to grow up without a dad, you know,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes.

He had just taught his 7-year-old to play tennis.

“She’s a hell of a tennis player,” he said, his voice quaking with emotion. “I was like, man, I gotta get through this because she needs her coach."

“Some of the things that go through your head, it may seem so trivial but it gets you through those moments,” he said.

Bellin, a 6-foot, 10-inch center, played for Rochester-based Oakland University’s Golden Grizzlies in the early 2000s, and had also played college ball for Marist College in New York. He played professionally in Belgium and in Italy for about 12 years before taking a job as a sports agent.

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• Brussels Attacks: Former OU Basketball Player Severely Injured

He commutes regularly between Belgium and western Michigan, where his wife and two young children, for his job with Keemotion.

His former coach, Greg Kampe, tweeted the news Tuesday that Bellin had been severely injured in the Brussels bombing.

“My ex player Seb Bellin was injured in the Brussels bombing,” Kampe tweeted. “Going for second surgery. Please pray for Seb.”

Kampe had planned to meet Friday with Bellin, who recruits university talent for several teams in Europe, the coach told The Detroit News.