A man left paralyzed by a bomb at Manchester Arena conquered the top of Africa’s highest mountain in his wheelchair.
Martin Hibbert, 45, began singing and dancing when he reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro with his team of assistants and local guides.
Hibbert and his 14-year-old daughter Eve were five meters away from suicide bomber Salman Abedi when he blew up his device five years ago last month.
Hiebert’s spinal cord was cut off by shrapnel in the bombing, which left 22 dead and hundreds injured.
Hibbert launched a mission to climb Mount Kilimanjaro because he wanted to “move mountains” for people with disabilities. He has already raised about half of the £ 1 million donation target for the Spine Injury Association.
Speaking after reaching the 5895-meter peak, he said: “I could only see the sign at the top. I didn’t know whether to laugh, to cry … It was such a relief to get there and know that we did it. Something I will always remember. Just so proud.
“I said we would all come back as different people and I will certainly do so, only love and that. I’m definitely a different person coming home and I think everyone else will be too. “
At the top, Hibbert scattered some of his mother’s ashes while playing her favorite song, For All We Know, by the carpenters. She died last November, and Martin said: “I said she would be with me. I love you Mom.”
In January, the former football agent told the Guardian that he wanted to inspire a “revolution” in the way Britain thinks about people with disabilities.
He said he was shocked by the daily obstacles that people in wheelchairs have to overcome in public places such as restaurants, hotels and shops.
Speaking after climbing Kilimanjaro, he added: “You know it doesn’t stop there. We climbed a mountain, but now we have to move mountains to get what we need in terms of changes in social care, changes in accessibility and things like that, so I will need all these people to keep giving me this love and sustains.
“That’s why I’m doing this to show, don’t write someone off because they’re in a wheelchair, see what they can do when they have the right help and support. They can climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
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