A man who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena terror attack has conquered Mount Kilimanjaro.
Martin Hibbert, 45, used a special wheelchair to climb Africa’s highest mountain.
After reaching the summit he said: “This is why I survived, to change perception of disability, to show we can literally climb mountains.”
He added: “I could just see the sign at the top. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry. It was such a relief to get there and know that we had done it.
"Something I will always remember. Just so proud.”
Martin, from Chorley, Lancs, made it to the 5,685m (18,652ft) snow-capped Gilman’s Point summit in Tanzania with a team of eight helpers and guides.
After completing the trek the team sang and danced on the mountain top and Martin unfurled a Manchester United flag.
He said: “I said we will all come back as different people and I certainly will do, just the love and that. I’m definitely a different person going home and I think everyone else will be as well.
“You know it doesn’t stop here, we’ve climbed a mountain but we now need to move mountains to get what we need in terms of social care change, changes in accessibility, things like that, so I’m going to need all these people to continue giving me that love and support.
“That’s why I’m doing this to show, don’t write off somebody because they’re in a wheelchair, look at what they can do when they’ve got the right help and support, they can climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
“Hopefully, doing this has highlighted just how important help and support is.”
Mr Hibbert, who hopes to raise £1million for the Spinal Injury Association, had spent two years training for the climb, which he completed last Thursday.
“Climbing Kilimanjaro is only part of the story” he said.
“My true ambition is to enable every spinal cord injured person to receive the specialist care and support they need to live the life they choose and reach their full potential.
“I want to start a movement that will create a better and fairer society for disabled people.”
He and his daughter Eve, then 14, were six metres from the suicide bomber Salman Abedi when he detonated his home made device in May 2017.
Mr Hibbert suffered a severed spinal cord and was paralysed from the waist down.
Nik Hartley, chief executive of the Spinal Injuries Association, said:
“It’s important to understand, there’s the physical feat of going up a mountain.
“But this isn’t a disabled man goes up a mountain with a wheelchair, this is a man (who) says, I’m coming out of something terrible and I’m going to do something that can change the lives of people who can’t even leave their bedrooms because of a spinal chord injury.”
