MIRACLE OF BOMB VICTIM
Shredded by shrapnel at Manchester, he gets movement back in legs
A DAD paralysed by the Manchester bomb blast has regained movement in his legs after radical therapy in Australia.
Martin Hibbert could wiggle his toes within hours of starting the treatment. And he said: “I’m going to keep going until I’m walking.”
LYING paralysed in his hospital bed, devastated terror victim Martin Hibbert had been told to prepare for life in a wheelchair.
But the Manchester Arena bomb survivor had other ideas and with the help of radical therapy has regained some of the movement doctors thought had been lost for ever.
And Martin told of the incredible moment he saw his toes wiggling, just hours after he started the specialised treatment in Australia and 10 months on from the cowardly attack that shattered his life.
The 41-year-old, whose body was left riddled with nails and bolts from the terrorist blast that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande gig last May, is now determined to walk again. Football agent Martin said: “It was incredible when my toes moved for the first time.
“I was lying on a bed, watching TV, when I spotted the first movement. I still couldn’t feel anything but my toes were moving by themselves. By the next morning, I was able to flex them back and forth.
“Then each day brought a new miracle, from sitting up unaided and perfectly balanced to actually being able to bend and lift my legs.
“They’ve been going crazy, like a footballer’s. You can see tendons and muscles firing under the skin and the covers move constantly while I’m lying in bed. I’ve got this big smile on my face and I keep having to ask myself, ‘Is this real or a dream?’”
The dad of one underwent NeuroPhysics Therapy in the Queensland city of Gold Coast.
It trains the brain to send impulses through other routes to bypass the damaged nerves. By the third day of treatment, Martin was able to pull himself into a standing position and hold the pose. And at the end of the two-week stint, he had mastered cycling, crossing his legs, kneeling on all fours, and even crawling.
On his final session last week, Martin said that feeling had even 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