Manchester Arena survivor: 'No one will stop me living my life - let alone a terrorist'
Martin Hibbert, whose spinal chord was severed, relives the horrific night with his daughter, who was left brain damaged.
Tuesday 22 May 2018 04:14, UK
A year ago today, 22 people died and more than 800 people suffered physical and deep psychological injuries after a suicide bomber targeted a pop concert in Manchester.
Survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing have had to deal with trauma and grief as they try their best to rebuild their lives.
Here, 41-year-old Martin Hibbert - a survivor of the attack - tells Paste BN his story.
22 May 2018 seemed a long way away when I woke up in hospital and was being told I would never walk again.
I felt that my life had ended and that all the doors I'd opened over the last 40 years had all slammed shut.
Life can be cruel and for the first time in my life, both myself and my daughter were fighting for our lives.
I can remember everything from the night of the attack and I've been quite vocal about my journey to date. It's been a big help in my rehabilitation, to be able to talk about it and it seems people have an interest in what I say.
This story actually starts on Christmas Day 2016, with my daughter opening up her presents - one of them being VIP tickets to watch Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena.
We'd been talking about watching her live should she ever decide to come to Manchester and we both couldn't wait for the concert to come.
In the five months leading up to the concert, any chance we had of putting on her latest CD and practising in readiness for the big day was gladly taken.
We both love music and have enjoyed several pop concerts together and this was nothing new.
The day of the concert was here and I picked up my daughter from school. We headed straight into Manchester around 4.30pm and took advantage of the VIP parking that came with the tickets.
Given the concert was on a school night, I wanted to be up and away at the end of the concert, so we would miss the build up of traffic and get her home and in bed ready for school the next day.
After a beautiful meal at the restaurant San Carlo, we headed over to the arena and entered the VIP box and waited for Ariana Grande to start.
After she appeared and my ear drums had recovered from the screams, the concert started and we enjoyed a great night of singing and dancing (embarrassing dad style).
We had decided during our meal that we would leave during the encore and miss the crowds and get away. This decision will probably stay with me for life.
At around 10.30pm, as we were leaving the venue and we were running through the foyer to the car park, our lives would change within seconds.
As the terrorist detonated his bomb both myself and my daughter only being 10m away were taken off our feet and we both fell to the floor.
I could see my daughter had suffered a serious head/brain injury and was dying in front of my eyes.
At that time I did not know the seriousness of my injuries. But I would later be told, I had suffered 22 shrapnel wounds with 22 bolts lodged all over my body from head to toe.
The two most serious were a bolt that had hit the right side of my neck, severed two main arteries and passed through my throat before swallowing it. The other severed my spinal chord and left me with a T-10 complete spinal chord injury, meaning I would never walk again and I would spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
My daughter had been hit by one bolt that unfortunately had gone straight through her brain.
She spent four months under sedation and thankfully managed to survive her injuries and came home in February 2018.
She has been left severely brain damaged and at present is unable to walk, speak or feed and a long road is now ahead. My hope is that given her age and fight she will regain some of these, but for now to still have her with us is more than enough.
I spent five months in hospital and the Spinal Unit in Southport before going home in October 2017. It was the first time I had ever been in hospital overnight and to be in for so long and away from family was hard.
On the same day I left hospital, we also had to move house as our home in Yorkshire was not accessible for a wheelchair.
We decided to move back to Lancashire, being originally from Bolton, I have a good network of family and friends, which would be needed as I adjusted to life in a wheelchair.
As we approach the first anniversary of the arena attack, looking back over the past 12 months, there have been many ups and downs but so much has been achieved and I am now looking to the future.
I completed my first 10k in a race chair at the Great Run in Manchester on the 20 May and this is the start of several races we have planned over the next 12 months for my charity, which is currently in the process of being incorporated - The Martin Hibbert Charity Foundation.
This charity will be raising funds for the three hospitals that saved our lives - Salford Royal, North West Spinal Unit and the Manchester Children's Hospital. We are hoping to raise £1m by the time we do the Boston Marathon in 2019.
I will also be writing a book and I am currently in negotiations with several publishers, so watch this space.
On the day of the anniversary my wife Gabby and I will be attending the memorial service, this will no doubt be a very emotional day for everyone, but one thing that has kept me going is a determination to not let the terrorists win.
I will enter the cathedral with my head held high, knowing what I have survived and the battles that I have won.
No one will stop me living my life - let alone a terrorist.