After my toes moved for first time, each day hasbrought a new miracle Radical therapy helps Martin on road to recovery

started to return to his toes, legs and the lower abdomen. He added: “I could feel my toes being pinched, with the sensation travelling all the way up my feet and legs. “To know that pain receptors are starting to kick in is incredible and, according to the clinic, offers great hope for the future. My legs have been going mad on the long flight home.”

Martin was the closest person to the explosion to survive.

But one of the nails packed into 22-year-old suicide bomber Salman Abedi’s device severed his spinal cord, leaving him paralysed from the tummy button down.

Amazingly though, none of his vital organs were hit, despite his 22 injuries.

Martin, of Bolton, said: “I’ve since been told it was like being shot 22 times at point blank range. My surgeon said if it wasn’t for my strong heart I’d have died at the scene.

“The way I look at it I’m incredibly lucky to be alive. To still be here, to have none of those bolts hit any of my vital organs, is amazing.

“And I’ve always been determined and driven, so when doctors showed me the X-ray of my spine it was a case of, ‘How dare you say I am never going to walk again? I’ll show you.’ That’s the type of person I am.

“From the moment the blast happened I have wanted to stick two fingers up to the terrorists and say, ‘You can take away my legs but you are not going to take away my life.’”

While being cared for at the Salford Royal Hospital and Southport Spinal Injuries Centre, Martin heard about NPT pioneer Ken Ware and decided to fly the 10,000 miles to Australia for treatment. He added: “I am a different person to the one who came out here last week.

“On leaving hospital in the UK I was told that the biggest thing I’d be doing was transferring to the settee from my wheelchair and vice versa.

“But some of the things I have seen and done here have blown my mind. The highest point was learning to stand. I’ve not felt that tall for a long time. To see the world at that height was magical.

“All the doctors say that walking again after a spinal cord injury is impossible. You’re told, ‘You’ll be in a chair for life’ and, ‘You can’t do this or that.’ Even when I googled treatments I was told to put the ipad down and concentrate on life in a chair.

“I spent all my time accepting that and coming to terms with it, and then Ken comes along and shows there is

SMILES Feeding a kangaroo with his wife Gabby