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Paralysed Manchester Arena survivor to climb Kilimanjaro in £1m charity mission
‘Disabled people have to climb their own mountains every day, so I’ve decided to climb a real one’
A man left paralysed by the Manchester Arena bombing will be taking on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, in a massive £1m charity mission.
Martin Hibbert was at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22nd 2017 with his daughter Eve, then fourteen, when a terrorist detonated a bomb, claiming the lives of twenty-two people and injuring hundreds more.
Martin and Eve were the closest people to the blast, with them standing just five metres away from the attacker when he detonated his device. Martin, a football agent from Bolton, was hit by twenty-two pieces of shrapnel, some of which severed his spinal cord, while Eve suffered a brain injury so severe she was presumed dead at the scene.
However, the pair have both defied the odds and, despite being told he will never walk again, Martin has now set himself an epic mission to scale Mount Kilimanjaro on a specially adapted wheelchair to ‘show what can be achieved if those with spinal chord injuries get the right support’.
Along with his friend Stuart Wildman, a consultant nurse who cared for him in the Major Trauma Unit of Salford Royal hospital, Martin will be taking on Africa’s highest peak in July to raise £1m for the Spinal Injuries Association, who he is now an ambassador for.
Martin told ITV Granada: “I want to start a revolution to change people’s perceptions of what it means to be disabled.
“I want everyone to have the care and support they need, helping everyone to lead the life they want and being fully involved in the decisions that shape their experiences.”
Only one in three people with a spinal cord injury go to a specialist unit, which drastically limits their chances of living a fulfilled life.
Martin added: “Disabled people have to climb their own mountains every day, so I’ve decided to climb a real one. Too often the focus is on what disabled people can’t do, not what they can. I’m challenging that.”
In a separate statement on the Spinal Injuries Association, Martin said: “The NHS saved my life, but it was an amazing charity, the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) who gave me the hope, confidence and practical skills to start again.”
Martin lost his mum Janice in November 2021, and plans to take her ashes with him as he attempts the epic climb.
Martin has already raised a massive £355,894 of his £1m target at the time of writing; to donate and to read more about his mission, visit the fundraiser page here.