Martin Hibbert has been presented with a Pride of Britain Regional Fundraiser Award on Friday night’s ITV Granada Reports.
Martin was travelling back home to Chorley when was surprised as he was waiting to board a train in London and presented with the award by reporter Zoe Muldoon.
Each year the ITV Pride of Britain Awards celebrate those from every region of the UK who have given their time to raise thousands of pounds to help others.
Martin said:
“This surprise has got to sink in, I feel very happy, to even be in the top 4 is amazing but to win it…I am just shocked. To think I am now attending the Pride of Britain Awards ceremony down in London and am now a winner…things like that don’t happen to people like me.”
Martin was just metres away from the bomb that killed 22 people in the terror attack at Manchester Arena in May 2017.
He had been at the Ariana Grande concert with his daughter Eve, then aged 14.
Eve sustained a “significant” brain injury and Martin suffered a severed spinal cord from shrapnel from the bomb, which left him paralysed from the waist down.
Martin spent six months in hospital and told he would never walk again, but after meeting Gary Dawson a support officer from charity Spinal Injuries Association, he was determined to keep going and turn an appalling act of terror into a force for good.
Earlier this year he reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in a specially adapted wheelchair to raise money for the Spinal Injuries Association and to help “move mountains” for other disabled people.
Due to the altitude, Martin and his support team spent less than half an hour at the summit of Kilimanjaro – just enough time for him to scatter his mother’s ashes.
Throughout the momentous challenge, he said his mum, Janice, who died in October 2021, was his inspiration.
Martin said:
“It’s mixed emotions as I am trying to not think of my mum as she would be so proud as when Pride of Britain was on the TV she always made a point of watching it and to think her sons going to be on it.”
The 45 years old hopes to raise £1million pounds to fund the Spinal Injuries Association, who support thousands of people with spinal cord injury across the country. So far he has raised over £800,000. But as well as raising the life-changing money, Martin hopes to change perceptions of people with disabilities.
He said: “I was the second paraplegic to do it, everybody is climbing their own mountain in some way shape or form. Hopefully climbing Kilimanjaro will make people embrace disability and celebrate disability.”
On winning the award Martin added:
“This award isn’t just for me.
It’s for the surgeon who operated on me that night for fourteen hours at the Salford Royal, everybody involved in the climb, all those at SIA who have supported me and to everybody who has made me who I am to be able to sit here today, this means a lot.”
Martin will find out on October 24th at the glitzy Pride of Britain Awards in London whether he has been selected to become the national fundraiser of the year!
If you would like to help Martin reach his target of £1 million pounds, you can follow this link to his Just Giving Page.
https://martins-mountain.
