As they had agreed years earlier, Bushby’s mother, Angela, waited for him at her home in Sutton Park, where she raised him.
He appeared almost lost for words..
He said: “It feels surreal. It’s the end of a 28-year journey.”
His mother, who had not seen him for a decade, said: “It’s good to have him home.”
As he approached the house, he said: “This is familiar.”
But he admitted he never expected such a homecoming.
Addressing the crowd in the city centre, Bushby, when he was received by the lord mayor, Maria Coward, said: “There has never been a welcome home like this, I am sure. It’s madness. An enormous thank you.”
He added: “The biggest team – Earth – got me back here.”
On Sunday, when he crossed the Humber Bridge into East Yorkshire, he was met by his 36-year-old son Adam, his 12-year-old granddaughter whom he had never met, his father and brothers.
“It was amazing,” Bushby said of the reunion.