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Surviving the Manchester Bombing to Scale Kilimanjaro in a Wheelchair

Fiona Duffy, Martin Hibbert

Martin Hibbert was left paralysed from the waist down by the Manchester Arena bombing which killed twenty-two people on 22 May 2017. Martin's teenage daughter Eve was one of the 940 injured, in Eve's case, gravely. The dad from Bolton has since become a leading campaigner both for victims of the atrocity and those with spinal cord injuries.

Determined to make a difference he took on the ultimate challenge, scaling Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair, becoming the second paraplegic to do so, and raising a million pounds for charity. Reaching the summit, on 13 June 2022 Martin, who was the closest person to the bomber to survive, said, 'I've often wondered why I was saved. Now I know why. It was for this moment.'